{"id":2396700,"date":"2026-04-30T21:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2396700"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:14:34","slug":"the-dio-dining-entertainments-big-fish-invites-a-look-in-the-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-dio-dining-entertainments-big-fish-invites-a-look-in-the-mirror\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dio Dining & Entertainment\u2019s \u201cBig Fish\u201d Invites A Look In The Mirror"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Dio\u2019s \u201cBig Fish\u201d is a story about a typical American family. A dad, mom and son. The dad, Edward Bloom, played with heart by Steve DeBruyne, is a traveling salesman. His job requires him to be away from home, missing out on most of his son\u2019s life. The boy, portrayed so brilliantly by Tyler J. Messenger, realizes that on the eve of getting married, he doesn\u2019t know his father. A theme familiar in so many American homes.<\/p>\n

The music and lyrics to Big Fish were written by Andrew Lippa and the script by John August. Big Fish opened on Broadway in October 2013 and closed after ninety-eight performances. The musical was based upon the 1998 novel by David Wallace \u201cBig Fish: A Novel of Epic Proportions\u201d and the 2003 film.<\/p>\n

Steve DeBruyne\u2019s direction invites an intimate look into the lives of the Bloom family. On the surface, it looks like every other family. While under the surface, it is also like so many families. Unresolved hurts, misunderstandings and emotional distance. The tension between DeBruyne\u2019s Edward and Messenger\u2019s Will is palpable at times. Through raised voices and building frustrations, the conflict in Act I builds with a slow simmer.<\/p>\n

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(Far left) Tyler J. Messenger as Will, Anne Koziara as Josephine & Steve Debruyne (behind cart). Photo by Michele Anliker Photography.<\/em><\/p>\n

MSandra Bloom, Edward\u2019s wife, played so beautifully by Angela Hench, tries to maintain the peace between the men I her life, often with diminishing returns. In Act II, she sings the haunting \u201cI Don\u2019t Need A Roof\u201d as her husband lays dying in her arms. Anne Koziara plays Will\u2019s fianc\u00e9\u2019 Josephine, who shines in her role. Ever present, she always has a calming, supportive voice. She too assists in bridging the gap between father & son. The importance of these two women in carrying the story forward cannot be overstated. Their gentle presence is needed to help bridge the distance between the men.<\/p>\n

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Steve Debruyne as Edward Bloom elevated, Angela Hench as Sandra in blue dress & Tyler J. Messenger in tux as Will Photo by Michele Anliker Photography.<\/em><\/p>\n

DeBruyne\u2019s Edward has a dream where a witch, played by Jacqui Blue, reveals how his life will end. Yet, true to life, as the end approaches, Edward says, \u201cit can\u2019t end like this\u201d and asks Will to create a different ending. Messenger then sings \u201cHow It Ends\u201d, creating the perfect end to his dad\u2019s story, whom he had grown to love and admire the more he discovered.<\/p>\n

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Jacqui Blue as the Witch in Edward\u2019s dream. Photo by Michele Anliker Photography.<\/em><\/p>\n

Big Fish is a love story, wrapped neatly in humor and humanity. Everyone has known someone like Edward, the life at every party who can become tiresome. And everyone knows someone like Sandra and Jenny. Strong, smart and articulate women, who love unconditionally, are calmly and quietly reassuring, keeping their family together. These actresses appeared infrequently on stage but dominated the scenes they were in.<\/p>\n

Members of the ensemble included Nicholas Balfour, Michael Bessom, Molly Cunningham, James Fischer and AJ Sandstrom. Jack Fitch and AJ Sandstrum share playing the role of Young Will, opening Act II singing \u201cFight The Dragons\u201d with Edward.<\/p>\n

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Jack Fitch (standing on cart) as young Will, Steve DeBruyne in front & ensemble. Photo by Michele Anliker.<\/em><\/p>\n

Big Fish packs an emotional punch in the gut. The acting is superb. The singing is even better. Big Fish gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up.<\/p>\n

Big Fish runs through Sunday, May 31st<\/sup>. There are a few tickets remaining for select performances. For tickets, call (517) 672-6009 or online at www.diotheatre.com<\/a>. The Dio is located at 177 E. Main Street in Pinckney.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source thesuntimesnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dio\u2019s \u201cBig Fish\u201d is a story about a typical American family. A dad, mom and son. The dad, Edward Bloom, played with heart by Steve DeBruyne, is a traveling salesman. His job requires him to be away from home, missing out on most of his son\u2019s life. The boy, portrayed so brilliantly by Tyler […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2396701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2396700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-Dio-Dining-Entertainments-Big-Fish-Invites-A-Look.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2396700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2396702,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396700\/revisions\/2396702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2396701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2396700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2396700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2396700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}