Review: The Big Voice: God or Merman?

If you haven't already seen it, don't miss The Big Voice: God or Merman? It's the story of how two men made their way in the world, finding music, laughter, the theater, and each other. The show is their love letter to the theater and to each other, and it's one of the most moving, heartfelt, and fun evenings I've had in a long time.

The Big Voice is the story of Jim Brochu and Steve Schalchlin's lives - growing up in severely religious families, discovering freedom through music and the dazzling lights of Broadway, and finally finding and holding on to each other. Jim wanted to be pope (the lights! the spectacle! the crowds!) until he heard a recording of Ethel Merman singing "There's No Business Like Show Business," and recognized his true calling. Steve "got saved" as a Baptist when he was only a little kid, but realized that his inspiration was through writing music, not through the church. The Big Voice in the sky to which all must heed the call, it turned out, was not an old bearded man in the sky, but Ethel Merman (or Judy Garland, if you're in the other camp).

The show is humbly staged at the Actors' Temple Theater, a converted religious space, which is all too fitting for a show that illuminates the true connection between religion and theater. Jim and Steve aren't undiscovered dynamos of musical theater, but their performances are humble, sweet, funny, honest, and utterly from the heart. Their stories are the kind that you wish your grandparents could tell you - stories of running into a candystriping Ethel Merman in a hospital, getting inspiration in tough times from the guy who played Potsie, and Jim finally seeing his portrait on the wall at Sardi's.

Word on the street is that casting is underway for Jim and Steve's replacements. I strongly advise you to see it performed by the guys who have lived these stories, before it's too late. Oh, and check out Steve's blog here!