Big Fish

Act One

In Alabama, an aging man named Edward Bloom skips stones on a river. His son, Will, approaches. It’s Will’s wedding day, and he urges his father not to make any embarrassing toasts or tell any wild stories. Edward is befuddled by this request, but agrees. Edward enters a flashback, in which he tells six-year-old Will a story before bed. In the story, which comes to life, Edward encounters a group of men and women who are unsuccessfully trying to catch a fish. Edward informs them that the only way to catch a fish is to do the Alabama Stomp, a clap and stomp routine. He says, “"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man the Alabama Stomp, you feed his soul!" The stomp is successful, and the fishermen and women catch fish after fish, concluding with an enormous fish, which leaps into Edward’s arms (“Be the Hero”).

Still in the flashback, Will’s mother, Sandra, enters young Will’s room, and informs