Great Big Stuff

My Favorite Flop

You're gonna have "the time of your life" as hosts Bobby and Kristina discuss 1996's Big The Musical on episode sixteen of My Favorite Flop.

ABOUT BIG THE MUSICAL

Based on the 1988 film of the same name starring Tom Hanks, Big The Musical tells the story Josh Baskin, a 12-year-old boy who grows up overnight after being granted a wish by a Zoltar Speaks machine at a carnival. With the aid of his best friend, Billy, he must cope with his new adulthood while finding the machine so that he can wish himself back and more. The musical features a book by John Weidman, music by David Shire, and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.

Composer David Shire was inspired to adapt Big for the stage after his wife, actress Didi Conn, watched the film on pay-per-view in her hotel room one night and told him how great a musical it would make. Over the next six years, he was able to amass a team that included frequent collaborator lyricist David Maltby, Jr., book writer John Weidman, director Mike Ockrent, and choreographer Susan Stroman, all of whom were not quite convinced that the musical would work, but continued to contribute to the creative process anyway until it eventually ended up on Broadway.

Big The Musical was one of the first major blockbuster films to be translated to the musical stage. While the practice has become much more common today, the Broadway community was far less welcoming of this at the time of its premiere. Despite the musical's strengths, it struggled to find an audience, and after failing to land a Tony nomination for Best Musical, it closed as a puzzling $12 million dollar loss of its $10 million dollar investment.

A heavily-revised national tour traveled the country two years later under the helm of show doctor Eric Dr. Shaeffer and was a big success and almost returned to Broadway. The show made its UK and Ireland in 2016 in Dublin starring "Strictly Come Dancing" winner and The Wanted vocalist Jay McGuiness as Josh. The production transferred to London's West End at the Dominion Theatre in 2019 with McGuiness reprising his role.

Original Broadway Cast

• Daniel Jenkins as Josh Baskin
• Crista Moore as Susan Lawrence
• Brett Tabisel as Billy
• Lizzy Mack as Cynthia Benson
• Barbara Walsh as Mrs. Baskin
• John Sloman as Mr. Baskin
• Patrick Levis as Young Josh Baskin
• Jon Cypher as MacMillan
• Gene Weygandt as Paul