Big Fish brought the audience to tears in its three performances over the course of Friday, April 13 to Sunday, the 15.

Big Fish is a father son story showing the bond between Edward Bloom, played by senior Kaleb Fair, and his son Will Bloom, played by senior Brendan Paules.

The story follows Will, a realist, as he tries to find the meaning behind his dying father’s fantastical stories about action, adventure, and love.

Will doubts his father’s stories and wishes to find the truth of the man he calls his father, a man who seems like a complete stranger.

In fact, “Stranger” is the name of the first song of the musical, sung by Paules in act one.

Senior Erin Kalizack loves the meaning behind the song and what it means for the rest of the performance.

“I liked ‘Stranger.’ It’s such a powerful song because it’s in the beginning of act one, and he’s singing about how he doesn’t want to be like his father,” said Kalizack.  “It kinda contradicts what he comes to do at the end, so I like that because it’s so powerful in telling the story because it shows where Will Bloom started and where he ends.”

The show was loved by the audience, impacting Kalizack in a big way.

“I think this one really hit home with me because of the response we got from people and how it touched real people’s lives. It wasn’t just kinda this show that we’re putting on, but people were coming up, people were tweeting, people were getting the word out and saying how good and how touching this show was, and I think that was the best part for me and what really made it the best show that I’ve been apart of,” said Kalizack.

Paules agrees. He said, “I can honestly say this is by far one of the best shows that we’ve ever done here. Especially as far as I have been here, I think the reaction that we got from it stands for that.”

A lot of hard work went into this show, and it took a lot of overcoming obstacles to get to the magnificent performance that it turned out to be.

Paules shares his biggest challenge during the production of the musical.

“Acting,” said Paules. “I’ve done a lot of vocal performances throughout high school, and I’ve done a few shows. This is only my third show acting, but it was definitely a process learning how to emote and things like that, and the one song which is called ‘Showdown,’ I was this sheriff from the old west and that was a little bit out my comfort zone to say the least, so that was definitely a process for me.”

In the end, the show was a huge success.

“Thank you for coming to the show if you did; it was a really fun experience. I’m glad I finally got to be on stage as I’ve been behind the spotlight for many, many years, so it was great to be apart of it,” said Paules.