Big Fish, The Other Palace, London, review: Kelsey Grammer has a natural stage presence

Andrew Lloyd Webber is to be commended for dedicating a central London venue to showcasing new musicals. Despite there being numerous shows on offer at any one time in the West End, most of them are of the juke-box variety, and the opportunity to see and hear original material is rare.

This American import has the added glamour of TV’s Frasier, Kelsey Grammer, in a starring role. Perhaps more importantly for the Lloyd Webber project, it is a musical with a fine score and a story that is not just funny and thoughtful, but ends up pulling at the heartstrings.

Big Fish, adapted from first a novel and then the Tim Burton film, is the tale of Edward Bloom, who was rarely there for his young son, Will, but when he was entertained him with romantic and fantastical takes of how he met witches, giants and, in ever-changing scenarios, Will’s mother.

This is told mainly in flashback after Edward is in hospital with a stroke. Will, sensitively played by Matthew Seadon-Young, wants to get to the bottom of who his father really is, and what a father really is, and suspects there is a dark secret beneath the tall tales. As he says: “My father talks about a lot of things he never did, and I’m sure he did things he never talks about. I’m just trying to reconcile the two.”

As Edward, Kelsey Grammer has a natural stage presence, and is a master of whimsical humour, with a seemingly effortless rapport with the audience. And, on the one occasion he is moved to anger by his son confronting him, he displays a simmering rage that is genuinely disturbing.

At the end Will, prompted by his wife to “know the stories and you will know the man”, realises that the tall tales were “not to impress me but to inspire me”. It’s a plot that could have been corny but is genuinely touching.

I could have wished for, and did wish for, sets that reflected the fantastical nature of giants and witches and magical forests. But, though there are back projections, the show is played out a little claustrophobically in the hospital room, on an almost bare stage. Lloyd Webber argues in the programme that the point of his project is to showcase new musicals in their early stages rather than have to wait for the possibly prohibitive expense of automated sets and lose the opportunity to see them altogether. Nevertheless, some atmosphere is lost.

But I’m sure that Lloyd Webber is pleased with the music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, a seasoned American composer with Grammy and Tony nominations. The songs have a montage of styles from country to vaudeville, and much in between. And director Nigel Harman pushes the story along at a good pace, with (arguably not enough) flashes of Liam Steel’s colourful and driving choreography on the few occasions that the cast break into dance routines.

Frasier fans who may have just come to see Kelsey Grammer on stage also got an excellent new musical for their money.

Until 31 December (theotherpalace.co.uk)