New Link for Big Voice Video Diaries

I've created a new permanent link where all the Big Voice video diaries are organized. You can find them all at http://thebigvoice.com/video.html.

NY Big Voice Video Diary #8

Riding to the show on the bus, we run into Broadway star, John McMartin. Then the Jasons show up and we have dinner at Sardi's where we tell stories.

"Instant Hit"?

Score another great review for us! (Yay!) From BroadwayWorld.com. It's really and truly beyond thrilling to watch these reviews pour in like this. It's beyond our wildest dreams and imaginations. It's also very humbling. Every night we know we have to keep up our concentration and give a great performance because now people come EXPECTING a great show!

Here are a few quotes. From Amanda Scarpone.

The Big Voice: God of Merman encapsulates why we love theater. It’s a show that somehow manages to bring a smile to the face, a tear to the eye and laughter all the way through.

In addition to the script the score, encompasses many fun-loving and heart-wrenching tunes which add another dimension to the already endearing storyline. Brochu and Schalchlin do a fantastic job when it comes to supplying the melody and harmony – out of no where your ears are delighted by the fullness of the music and you are surprised that such volume and sound are simply coming from two men and a keyboard. It’s a score including just the right mix of soul-exposing solos with fun, upbeat and light-hearted Broadway tunes; it’s easy to envision the CD sitting in your car for that long road trip you’re planning to make by yourself so you can sing along.

Somehow, a play that revolves around religion and gay relationships never gives even the staunchest conservative reason to complain – it’s a true story of perseverance and achieving dreams without ever taking itself too seriously. The Big Voice: God or Merman is a smart, funny and touching performance – one that makes Broadway happy to welcome Brochu and Schalchlin back with open arms.

And, once again, not a single negative note. Amazing. Just amazing.

NY Big Voice Video Diary #7 (Reading the NY Times Review)

Last Friday, Jim and I stayed up till 1:30 AM to see if the NY Times review would appear online. Suddenly, about 1, the capsule review appeared. I turned on the camera and told Jim that we would tape the reading of the review, good or bad. No matter what it said. Little did we know...

Thinking About Reviews

A few friends of mine who don't really know all that much about show biz were asking me questions about what the reviews mean. They just wanted a little perspective.

So, to clarify, the Gold Standard, the one review in the WORLD that you must have in order to succeed, especially if you don't really have a "pre-sold" show such as a Disney musical or if you don't have much money for advertising or publicity, is the New York Times review. It's the pinnacle.

When they write their reviews, they are usually very "stingy" with words of praise -- and they always -- ALWAYS -- point out what's wrong with your play or musical. Even if they say something positive, they will usually find a qualifier to match it, a big "but..."

Also, they usually, as one of the producers explained to me yesterday, find ways to say positive things to make it difficult to get a really good "pull-quote." They are very aware of the position as the "last word" in the arts, so all this is understandable. If they endorse something, then they are usually very careful to make sure that their name is not diluted or watered down by too much praise.

That's why our NY Times review was so astounding. It was FULL of pull-quotes and there were NO qualifiers. None. Not a single negative note.

Then it happened again with the Variety review. And it happened again with the Village Voice review.

Do you know how small our show is? The other big NY newspapers declined to even send a critic. That comes from being nobodies from nowhere playing in a new theatre no one ever heard of. After all, it's crowded marketplace. A lot of shows opened the same week we did.

And, as I said before, our show was financed by friends and family who believed in us. No big producers. Nobody writing huge checks. No underwriters. The entire production is a labor of love.

So, credit has to go to Keith Sherman, the publicist, who managed to get the Times in. From here, our marketing team of Eliran Murphy, also one of the best in town who chose to work with us because they believed in the material and were "heart-drawn" to it, now has something to work with.

Again, these reviews were everything to a little show like ours. They would either make us or break us. And the other thing we have going for us is the word of mouth coming out of the back of the theatre. The audiences LOVE the show. So, while nothing is assured and nothing is guaranteed, with a little more media exposure -- if theatre goers SEE the reviews and if the word of mouth kicks in -- we could settle in for a nice, long run.

Wouldn't that be a beautiful holiday gift?

The Village Voice Raves

Another rave review today! The Village Voice.

Partners in life as well as in stage and song, Jim Brochu and Steve Schalchlin have made fantastic theater out of the drama of their lives with the autobiographical musical The Big Voice: God or Merman?

Opening Night Video Diary (NY Vlog #6)

On the move again...

Today, Jim and I moved again to another apartment. This time down on 43rd street. We'll be here for a week. Then we move again! Our Internet is limited, so if you write me an email, I might not be able to respond right away. We do have a great view of the Battery and the Statue of Liberty, though.

I'm also editing the opening night video diary, so stay tuned!

A Thoughtful Review in Curtain Up

A very thoughtful review of the show online at Curtain Up. There is a link there to the review they did of The Last Session back in 1997, another really well written and thought-provoking review.

NY Big Voice Video Diary #5

NY Big Voice Video Diary #4

The Times Review of a Lifetime

We stayed up till 1:oo am to get it, but here it is:

The NY Times review.

THEATER REVIEW | 'THE BIG VOICE: GOD OR MERMAN?'

A Musical Attempt to Share Some Secrets of True Love

By HONOR MOORE

“How do you do it?” jealous single people often ask happily married couples. The contented partners, in late middle age, usually smile at each other as they spout truisms, but the secret of their success remains nearly as impossible as a solution to the Poincaré conjecture.

Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu nonetheless try to share some of the magic in “The Big Voice: God or Merman?,” a chronicle of their own love story, which they wrote and are now performing as a hilarious and utterly enthralling evening of musical theater.

One of the men, as a Roman Catholic boy in Brooklyn, yearned to be pope, but changed his mind when the LP he bought of Ethel Merman in “Annie Get Your Gun” had more heat than Pope Pius XII performing a Gregorian chant. The other, a Baptist adolescent in Arkansas, longed to be an evangelist until he fell in love with music, and his mother told him to write a song. Both endure homophobia, come out and end up in show business and on the same cruise ship in the Bermuda Triangle, where their life together begins in 1985.

Think of two gifted and smart gay men with years of theater stories deploying their considerable talents from the two pianos you happen to have in your living room. Any question you could ask, they answer with a sidesplitting story or a telling anecdote. As these men onstage evoke Arkansas, a cruise ship or Sardi’s, you crack up at their deft mimicry and marvel at the romantic sweep of their songs, emotion catching your throat as you see them navigate AIDS and success, breakup and reconciliation.

Our contemporary embrace of the memoir is a longing for the true adventures of life. The trick is to make memory art without losing the awkwardness that proves authenticity. Here art is achieved with light hands, and the result is a triumphant and very touching song of praise to everyday love and the funky glories of the show business life.

“The Big Voice: God or Merman?” continues at Actors Temple Theater, 339 West 47th Street, Clinton; (212) 239-6200.

NY Big Voice Video Diary #3

Jim and Steve go sign Steve up to Actors' Equity. Then look for Big Voice at the TKTS booth. Two days before opening.

Opening Night Photos

Our first visitor of the night was Bob Stillman, who came over from "Grey Gardens," the huge Broadway hit. Bob was the star of the Off-Broadway production of "The Last Session." He brought us a card that said, "It's Big as Broadway and Twice as Gay!"

Here's a little family portrait of me, John Atherlay our stage manager, Jim and, in front, Ed Gaynes, Murphy Cross and Paul Kreppel, our producers.

Our dressing room was filled with flowers and cards from well-wishers.





Jana Llynn, our production manager, brought us stuffed cats called "Ethel" and "Judy." Jim got Ethel the orange one. I got Judy the gray one.

Afterwards, we had an opening night party at Sardi's. Below is actor Christian Campbell and his dad with me.

Director Anthony Barnao with an actor whose name I forgot (but who was very nice) along with the Campbells.

Here I am with Rick McKay, the filmmaker who made the incredible movie, "Broadway: The Golden Years."
Jim and me with Christian.

I'm here with local TV host, Barry Z.

And here we are with Jim's caricature right next to Ethel's.

Theatremania Raves.

The online theatre site, Theatremania, also gives us a rave.

Alternately hilarious and deeply moving, it should not be missed.

Variety Raves About Big Voice

Our first review is in. It's from the "industry bible," Variety. And the review is a rave.

"The Big Voice" is unconventional and perhaps unlikely, but this story of a mismatched couple, musical comedy-style, is funny, touching and warmly endearing.