'Bigfoot!' Off-Broadway review — monster misfit musical stomps onto the stage
Read our review of Bigfoot! off Broadway, a new, original musical written by Amber Ruffin, Kevin Sciretta, and David A. Schmoll and playing through April 26.
Summary
- Bigfoot! follows the mythical creature as he tries to fit in with the people of Muddirt and save their town from destruction by an evil mayor
- The show has a strong cast and over-the-top physical comedy but the writing often falters
- The show is recommended for fans of Saturday Night Live-style sketch comedy and other monster musicals like Bat Boy and The Phantom of the Opera
I’m partial to musicals about “monster misfits,” whether it’s the dark sensuality in The Phantom of the Opera's title character or the silly Toxie in The Toxic Avenger. Bigfoot!, the latest entry into the genre, leans into a lighthearted tone sprinkled with rage against the climate crisis. You have a cuddly Grey Henson in a Wookie-esque suit as the title “creature” (hair, wig, and makeup design are by J. Jared Janas and Cassie Williams). You have goofy physicality throughout director/choreographer Danny Mefford's staging. Creators Amber Ruffin, Kevin Sciretta, and David A. Schmoll have material that would strike it rich. Alas, Bigfoot! doesn’t stamp a big enough footprint on the heart.
Bigfoot’s dream is to live among the humans in Muddirt, a town plagued by a nuclear power plant and chemical dumps. He isn’t the creature of myths (yet); he’s just a big, friendly guy born with mutant hairiness and raised by an overprotective but often sick mother, Francine (Crystal Lucas-Perry), who sequestered him in the woods. Piling on the troubles, Muddirt’s evil mayor (Saturday Night Live alum Alex Moffat, a bumbling bag of physical gags) schemes to destroy parts of town to build a water park on the pretense that it will reinvigorate Muddirt, so a “monster” lurking in the forest is a convenient boogeyman to redirect the townspeople's anger.
The townsfolk are as doltish as Elmer Fudd and rendered so cartoonishly that they announce their personalities, motives, and gullibility as blaringly as Yosemite Sam. The book contains mile-a-minute jokes mixed in with meta-gags and screeds on environmental justice and corruption. But for every clever quip, there are groaners. If it’s not the preachiness that undermines them, it’s the overstuffing of jokes with little breathing room. While Bigfoot! drops zingers and sight gags like an SNL sketch, that sketch spirit fizzles out in a musical production that needs structure to sustain itself. Overtickling the funny bone stalls the heart.
Whereas lyrics and music can be the saving grace of the other, Ruffin’s deflated words are barely buoyed by Schmoll's subpar score. Run-of-the-mill ballads seem struck by a tranquilizer dart. Bigfoot yearns for mundane normalcy with lyrics like, “If it bores you, I’ll adore it,” which would befit Henson's sweet simplicity, but the words evaporate.
Henson and company are innocent of the musical's deficits. Lucas-Perry embodies the charm of being a righteous mom just as Jason Tam radiates bubbliness as the Doctor, who serves as the mom-and-son pair’s sole ally. Although ensnared by stock characterization, Katerina McCrimmon plows through her material as fierce hunter Joanne, who melts when she discovers Bigfoot’s true nature. Ensemble member Jade Jones steals the spotlight as, among their numerous roles, a CEO caricature and fanatic mob member.
The musical’s theme of paranoia must be matched by appropriately high stakes, but plot developments happen conveniently rather than organically. Bigfoot almost immediately makes nice with his adversaries without resolving the hurt they wanted to cause. When Bigfoot launches into a speech about concealing himself for the comfort of the majority, Henson’s sincerity comes through, but it doesn’t distract from the flabby buildup to the emotional release. A drought of positivity under the current state of the world calls for the musical’s feel-good escapism, but Bigfoot! often feels like a monster misfit musical declawed.
Bigfoot! summary
In the toxic-dump small town of Muddirt, a corrupt, bumbling mayor schemes to construct a water park to line his pockets. And deep in the woods, a tall, hairy youth lives in seclusion, with only his mother and a kind doctor as his confidants. Named Bigfoot, he pines to connect with the humans he observes and helps them from the shadows. But when the mayor makes Bigfoot a convenient scapegoat, he sends an overzealous hunter and the town’s mob after him. It’s up to Bigfoot’s big, furry heart to charm his pursuers, stop the mayor’s evil plans, and finally exist in harmony with Muddirt.
What to expect at Bigfoot!
Bigfoot! has spontaneous, animated humor to spare. Whenever a character utters the word “hunt,” dramatically or casually, all the characters glance at the sky to the comic sound effect of an eagle. Mefford’s direction is also rife with extreme slapstick, with a running gag of a mother coughing, fainting, being slapped, and then slapping back.
The high-octane comedy shines through Mefford’s caffeinated choreography, Ricky Reynoso's comically vibrant costume designs, and Tim Mackabee’s storybook sets infused with smalltown sleaziness.
What audiences are saying about Bigfoot!
Theatre audiences have weighed in on Bigfoot! on social media and theatre review platforms like Mezzanine.
- Mezzanine app user Rayna T described their experience as “so silly and quite on the nose but I had so much fun and I laughed so much that I didn’t mind.”
- Mezzanine app user Sam Anderman was more critical: “I felt like 10% of the dialogue was hilarious and the other 90% just fell kind of flat for me. It felt like they didn’t really know which direction they wanted to take the show…”
- “It felt like a long SNL sketch, with its on-the-nose political commentary and zany characters. It had the comedy of old SNL but the commentary of current SNL. Overall a great show, very fun and high-energy.” - My +1 at the show
Who should see Bigfoot!
- Audiences may enjoy Bigfoot! for its shared comic tones with Bat Boy and Toxic Avenger, and as the antithesis of darker monster musicals like The Phantom of the Opera.
- Bigfoot scratches the itch for fans of Grey Henson (Mean Girls, Elf) to see him in another comic role — one with a fuzzy suit, no less.
- After Amber Ruffin’s work on the Broadway reimagining of Some Like It Hot, Ruffin’s fans would be excited for her latest musical project.
- Fans of campy, over-the-top comedy will appreciate that which comes through Mefford’s affectionately unpolished, small-theatre choreography.
Learn more about Bigfoot! off Broadway
There isn’t an absence of heart, laughs, or scenic color in Bigfoot!, but a huggable Grey Henson isn't enough to detangle the show's hairy writing.
Photo credit: Bigfoot! off Broadway. (Photos by Marc J. Franklin)
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