If you’ve seen (or even heard of) the movie Giant, about a Texan man named Bick and his Virginia-born wife, you are more knowledgeable then I was before seeing Signature’s latest show. It has been made into a musical, with music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa. I had never seen a LaChiusa show before, and while I’m still looking forward to seeing See What I Wanna See, I was far from blown away.
The cast was quite good, with Judy Blazer as Luz (Bick’s sister) giving an attention-grabbing performance. SPOILER Lindsey and I were shocked at her death at the end of act 1, and though she made infrequent reappearances, the show lost some of it’s luster with her passing. END Ashley Robinson also gave a strong performance as Jett, though I fear I might be unconsciously giving more credit to actors with better characters.
I don’t know the length of the movie Giant, nor the original novel by Edna Ferber (of Show Boat fame), but Signature’s production stretches a long four hours. Thankfully the show is split into three acts, making the time go much faster. And aside from parts of the first act, I never felt as though the show was dragging.
The costumes and sets were pitch-perfect, as one would expect from Signature.
The weakest aspect of Giant was the songs by LaChiusa. While none of them were bad, very few stood out as good, and those that did were thanks to strong performances by the actors. There were also multiple times during the production when I could not hear the lyrics over the orchestra, though I never felt like I was missing much.
The strength of the production came through from the book by Sybille Pearson, which avoided most of the cliche plot twists that seemed destined. While I started to long for some kind of big action, the understated action emphasized the reality of the characters and made the ending more poignant.
Far from my favorite production, Giant was an enjoyable Sunday afternoon, and if you have the time and money to spare, I recommend moseying over to see it.
Giant is playing at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA through May 31.
Giant
