Sewickley Academy students have 'Big Fish' to fry with new theater director

When Rachel Smith took over as Sewickley Academy’s theater director earlier this school year, she thought about ways to introduce herself to students and the community.

She pondered what type of show would be great for young performers and people coming out of a pandemic searching for entertainment in an intimate auditorium.

The former Saltworks Theater Company director chose “Big Fish: School Edition” as the high school’s musical.

The show is a slightly edited version of the original Broadway script. It’s based on the novel by Daniel Wallas and film directed by Tim Burton.

“It has themes of living life to the fullest and sort of having an active imagination, and letting that fuel you and your inspiration,” Smith said. “It’s all about the importance of human contact and human interaction.

”I think it’s a good thing, especially for some of our graduating seniors that have had just a really rough couple of years. It’s really a focus on that human connection and how important it is.”

The musical tells the story about Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman whose larger-than-life stories thrill folks around him, including his devoted wife, Sandra. Some of the stories include his time in high school, traveling, getting beat up, befriending a giant named Karl and more.

Bloom’s son, Will, tries to get to the bottom of his father’s tall tales. There are some emotional scenes, but most of it is packed with heart and humor.

There are 16 students in the cast, six in the orchestra and about a dozen backstage working on lighting, costumes, props and more.

Auditions took place around Thanksgiving and practices began shortly before winter break. Rehearsals have steadily progressed.

“We are on track,” Smith said. “Things are coming together. We have some very fantastical elements we are excited to surprise the audience with. We’ve tried to keep things simple, but magical. They’ll laugh. They’ll cry. They’ll wonder if it was real.”

Smith is assisted by technical director Nathan Bell, choreographer Heidi Murr, music director Tim Heavner and orchestra director Brian Buckley.

Student stars

Edward Bloom is played by senior Ibrahim Khan. Will Bloom is played by junior Max Peluso.

“They work really well together,” Smith said. “They’re willing to take risks together. They’re very supportive of one another. It’s great to watch the two of them work and sing. … Very committed and hard working, which we appreciate.”

Both Ibrahim and Max have been in multiple Sewickley Academy shows together. Both said they love “Big Fish” and see parts of themselves in their characters.

“Will Bloom is very practical, but he also has a little spots of his father, who is very outrageous,” Max said. “I like to play with the nuances of that. It’s a fun character. It’s a fun show. It has good emotions in it to play with.

“We’ve done other things. In most of the shows we’ve been in we’ve been playing off of each other. I think it’s fun to get to do different roles with someone who I’ve acted with so many times.

”I think this is a good culmination of what we’ve done because he’s going to graduate soon. This is one of the last couple times that we’ll get to work together on a project for a long time, if not forever. It’s a fun relationship to play into. I’m super excited.”

Max said everyone has been working very hard together to make something special for the audiences.

Theater-goers will easily be able to pick out junior Logan Carlson from the crowd. He plays Karl the Giant.

Karl is found by Edward Bloom while he’s living in a cave. The two don’t immediately hit it off, but things change for the better.

“The attitude that Edward has, that extremely charismatic positive, out-going attitude, he’s able to convince Karl to try to make a change for himself and push himself beyond what he’s comfortable with,” Logan said.

The same can be said with Logan’s adaption to Karl’s height and mannerisms — Logan stands just above 6 feet. In the production, he will be close to 9-feet-tall, walking around with stilts and a staff.

“It’s a really unique experience from anything I’ve had to deal with before,” he said. “Normally, when you’re in a musical, walking is not the thing that you’re focused on. That’s not the big issue. You’re focused on remembering the dances. You’re remembering your lines.

“For me, with this show, that hasn’t been what I’ve been trying to focus on. It’s really been trying to stay safe. Trying to watch out for my classmates so I don’t hit them with my legs.

“It was a really interesting experience to learn about, how to use the stilts. I’ve never been on stilts before ever. All the directors, all the people in tech and the cast were all really accommodating for me trying to learn it. I picked it up a lot faster than I thought I’d be able to. I was able to rush across the stage in just a couple weeks. It felt really good to make progress on something like that so fast.”

Spoiler alert

Spoiler: Edward Bloom dies. His big closing number is “How It Ends,” which is a fantasy with Bloom and the people he shared stories with at a river.

“It’s sort of nice that Edward moves on because it sort of feels like an allegory for graduating,” Ibrahim said. “It’s a completely different adventure that he has to do on his own. That’s what graduating feels like to me. This feels like a really nice way to cap off my high school career in the performing arts.

“I remember I sang my big closing song, the first time I sang it on this stage with everyone here I got super emotional. I didn’t feel like I was acting. I felt like I was me sort of saying goodbye to the academy. I’ve been performing on this stage since first grade. It’s going to be tough to say goodbye, but I’m very excited for what comes next.”

Ibrahim believes the future of Sewickley Academy performing arts is in good hands with not only the juniors and other underclassmen stepping up, but with Smith at the helm.

The previous theater director, Joe Jackson, is now an instructional assistant professor of musical theater dance at the University of Mississippi.

“He and I were really close when he left,” Ibrahim said about Jackson and his 11 years of instruction. “I wouldn’t trade what we’ve done with Ms. Smith for anything. I’ve had a phenomenal time. I guess it’s the theme of ‘Big Fish’ — change and moving on and adapting. Ms. Smith has a different directing style. She feeds us a lot of ideas that we wouldn’t really think of otherwise. She is really good at making her students think about what they’re saying and what they’re doing on stage.

“It’s exactly what an actor would want in a director.”