Review: THE BIG BANG at Spotlight Theatre Company

You take your seat as a man in a vest and untucked shirt offers you fancy grapes (grah-pays) on a skewer. You're about to catch a performance of a multi-million dollar show--kinda. Only it's in the apartment of a vacationing proctologist, and the writers haven't really put that much money into it yet.

In fact, the show itself is quite an undertaking, with thousands of costumes, hundreds of actors and a budget only imaginable by a bored billionaire. Only two guys are presenting highlights, which casually cover pretty much everything from the dawn of time. A few things are slightly fabricated.

There's a meeting between the mothers of Gandhi and Jesus. A lion sings about proudly devouring Christians. An Irishman laments to a potato. Adam and Eve only care about free food and frontal nudity. You get the idea.

But the musical isn't a performance of a fully staged show...technically. It's a sales pitch for the most expensive musical ever produced (around $80 million). The performers treat the audience like investors who came to watch a backer's audition of sorts. And although their pitch seems thrown together and discombobulated, the brilliance of the two writers brings something entirely unexpected.

The Big Bang is the creation of real-life musical theatre writers Jed Feuer and Boyd Graham, who launched the show at a musical theatre conference in the late '90s before it played Off-Broadway in 2000. Joe Von Boken and Ben Hilzer play Jed and Boyd alongside music director Blake Nawa'a, who plays pianist Albert.

Director Katie Mangett brought lighthearted camp to the forefront of "The Big Bang." Hilzer and Von Bokern are at the height of their comedic game. Who knew these two guys with gorgeous vocals could basically pull off any accent with perfection. They literally bare it all for laughs.

Clever costumes by Susan Rahmsdorff and props by Beki Pineda are a highlight of the production. As the writers neglected to bring any of their own, they use random items around the apartment, which end up being genius. A lampshade instantly looks like it's from ancient Egypt, and I had no idea you could use curtains in so many ways.

Choregraphy by Christian Munck lends a perfect balance of silliness the the numbers. Biz Schaugaard's set is perfectly detailed with great levels for the performers to play. And kudos to the lighting design by Vance McKenzie, who gets a few shining moments.

At only 90 minutes, when the show ends a bit abruptly, you're not ready for the hijinks to be over yet. But maybe that's just another one of the brilliant accidental selling points of The Big Bang. They've got my investment.

The Big Bang runs through Feb 6 at the John Hand Theater, 7653 E. 1st Place in Denver. Fridays and Saturdays are at 7:30 p.m., Sundays are at 2 p.m. Tickets are $21 or $19 for seniors. For tickets, visit www.ThisIsSpotlight.com or call (720)880-8727.

Photos courtesy of Spotlight Theatre Company

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