Size Isn't All That Matters In Signature's Giant
Betsy Morgan and Lewis Cleale age gracefully in Signature's "Giant"
The new musical from Michael John LaChiusa was gaining notoriety for its epic length even before it opened (Signature itself took the tactic of joking about it in its marketing materials, calling it a "Texas-sized musical"). But the work, based on the Edna Ferber novel (and resulting film) of the same name, is much more striking not for how extensive it is, but for how smart and adult it proves to be.
How should a woman cope with the sexual rejection she feels from her husband as she ages? How do two adults who have managed to grow old together without really knowing each other find common ground, despite differing values? What's the appropriate role for grief in a man's life? They're big ideas and they receive sensitive, multi-dimensional treatment, particularly when set to song in LaChuisa's hands.
I left another Signature production of a LaChuisa work, See What I Want To See, with many reservations, not excluding a feeling that the work just felt like it was trying too hard. With Giant, however, LaChuisa seems steady and confident. Interesting things are happening musically, whether it be instruments teasingly echoing vocal phrases, or the way jazz and mariachi sounds intertwine. But it's all in service to a greater story, rather than feeling like an academic exercise in songwriting.
It's not hard to find influences for Giant in everything from classic musicals to iconic films. At times, the work can feel like a modernized Oklahoma!, stripped of its unyielding optimism and replaced with a more nuanced portrayal of a culture within a country. The shady character Jett (Ashley Robinson) might not be at home in Oklahoma!'s Judd's "Lonely Room", but both characters pulsate with the same undercurrent of danger and sexual uneasiness. This doesn't mean these characters feel like carbon copies of existing literary figures; by contrast, their familiarity gives them almost a mythic quality.
Director Jonathan Butterell has assembled a charismatic cast of mostly Broadway and off-Broadway regulars, most of whom manage to be vocal powerhouses and nuanced actors to boot. The fantastic Robinson projects almost a bizarre magnetism as Jett, balancing devilish charm with a more sociopathic edge. As the show's central couple, Bick (Lewis Cleale) and Leslie (Betsy Morgan) age decades convincingly without the the aid of over-the-top-makeup. Morgan in particular matures her character effectively, muting but retaining that same spark that made her turn heads in her youth. The show's tear-jerker moments fall largely to John Dossett as Bawley, Bick's reclusive uncle, and Dossett drives home their power, along with many of the show's take-away messages. Though almost a throwaway character, Texan broad Katie Thompson proves quite the chanteuse, whether she's wistfully mourning lost love in "He Wanted A Girl" or lamenting the loss of her youth in the night's showstopper, "Midnight Blues".
With the help of its spare but outstretched set, the production quality of Giant only falters in its sound balance. Though Signature's orchestra is among the city's best, at times it seems to be in a competition with the show's vocalists to be heard over each other.
To address the issue of length: four hours is pushing it for any self-indulgent auteur, but Giant's running time shouldn't be enough of an issue to deter viewers on its own, and there are few moments that feel like obvious edits. The show starts to get sluggish at times throughout the third act - the story arc and resulting songs from the romance between Leslie and Bick's son and his Mexican wife seemed to me the least consequential (Marisa Echeverria's mediocre vocals don't help matters here). But ultimately, it's not too hard to forget about the length, sit back in your chair, and allow yourself to be swept up in the expansive, masculine scope of Giant.
Giant runs through May 31 at Signature Theatre. Tickets are available online.