Victor Gluck Reviews on Theaterscene.Net

Lovely review from Victor Gluck at Theaterscene.Net who asks whether we're starting a new genre of theater.

Ever see an original musical comedy in which the on-stage actors were playing themselves? Could The Big Voice: God or Merman? be the beginning of a new genre? Unlike Elaine Stritch’s At Liberty or Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, the songs here are all new and written specifically for this show. Subtitled “a musical comedy in two lives,” The Big Voice presents playwright Jim Brochu and composer/lyricist Steve Schalchlin, previously represented Off Broadway with The Last Session, telling their own story of two boys who grew up at opposite ends of the country believing they had religious vocations until they accidentally stumbled on show business, and later became collaborators and life-partners after they met on a cruise in the Bermuda Triangle.

Previously seen in Los Angeles and in the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival, The Big Voice is a wise, poignant and entertaining musical comedy now appearing at a new venue, the Actors Temple Theatre. Brochu and Schalchlin are a study in opposites: Brochu, a big fellow, is expansive and theatrical; Schalchlin is tall and thin with a wry sense of humor.