What I liked
Theresa Stroll: What is not to like about someone who is so open, honest and direct about herself and her determination to be seen, heard and given a fair shot in Hollywood based on talent as opposed to pure looks? Theresa’s performance is high-energy, spot-on and sharp-witted from beginning to end and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Message: Her goal is clear—Size isn’t the determination of someone’s value or talent, and it shouldn’t be the case in Hollywood, either. Theresa gets that message across in fantastic ways through songs, secondary characters such as an agent and a vapid trainer and yet it never feels too heavy-handed or ‘preachy’. It feels like an artist’s genuine response to genuine frustration, and that makes it that resonate that much more fully.
The Music: Was the music the best I’ve ever heard? No, but it was damn catchy—and more importantly, it was ABSOLUTELY and CLEARLY coming from Theresa herself, from her own viewpoint and stance. And that made it completely and 100% appropriate to the show. And that’s far more important.
What I didn't like
There’s literally only one thing that didn’t work for me completely in the show, and that was that the show sets itself up as autobiographical—which is fine—and then eventually sends the story to making a WEB SERIES called “My Big Fat Blonde Musical” instead of a stage play. Given that the rest of the play had felt so real and genuine, having the final segment of the play head in a different direction than what I was actually watching was confusing enough that it pulled me out of the experience of the play for a moment as I thought “No, wait, why isn’t this heading towards the very play I’m currently watching?” This didn’t affect my ability to enjoy what I saw overall; it just broke my immersion in the show for a minute or two.
My overall impression
Theresa Stroll has enormous talent. And Hollywood is going to notice her—but first, she’s going to have to figure out how to make them notice more than the fact that she’s also a big girl. That’s the essential story of this show—and Theresa tells the story of a larger woman struggling to make it in Hollywood in brilliant comic and music form that is pretty much guaranteed to make you walk out smiling. It’s a charming, fun hour of a story from her arrival in the city to her determination to make the city take notice HER way on HER terms. There are songs that raise cheers and moments of great comedic timing. There are tap dance numbers and strong enough supporting character personas that this one-person show sometimes feels like it has more than just one person in it.
And to top it all off, this show works hard to spread the message that Hollywood needs to look beyond the thin, anorexic beauties and remember that most of the world is larger and would like to be represented as well. It needs to look for TALENT before simply LOOKS and recognize that TALENT will draw if given the chance. The way this show has been selling proves that—and it damn well should.
