Bigfoot’s mother, Francine Foot, explains how her big, kind, hairy monster came to be: “You have sex with a carnie next to a nuclear power plant, you end up with a giant son.” That’s the kind of goofy humor found in abundance in this campy musical comedy, opening tonight Off Broadway,  featuring some top Broadway talent. It’s safe to say that nobody going to a show entitled “Bigfoot” expects Ibsen, but only about one out of every three jokes landed for me. Actually, Ibsen seems one of the plot’s many, many influences, albeit through a funhouse mirror.

Grey Henson stars in the title role, a gentle soul who has lived his entire life in the forest on the outskirts of his mother’s hometown, Muddirt. It’s a town built between a chemical factory and a nuclear power plant (as the townspeople sing in the opening number, “it’s mostly wet and gross and smelly and brown/ whose population is steadily going down.”) But Bigfoot yearns for it, going so far as to make a lovingly detailed scale model of the whole town. Nevertheless, his mother Francine (Crystal Lucas-Perry) insists he stay away. “People just aren’t open minded enough to be your neighbor,” she tells him on a visit to the forest. “Besides, they won’t give you your cuddle wuddles like I do.” 

Meanwhile, Muddirt’s mayor (Alex Moffat) is a crook (“’Crook’ is such an ugly word. I prefer the term ‘non-traditional entrepreneur.’”) His latest scheme is to demolish Muddirt to make room for a waterpark, Splashtown, which will make him “tons of money.”  The doctor of the town (Jason Tam) objects to the plan (here is where Ibsen comes in): “Our water supply has more illegal substances in it than a bathroom at Studio 54.”

As a distraction from the citizen protest, the mayor organizes “The First Annual Night-Smasher Hunt!” – a hunt for Bigfoot.  “It’s just a rope-a-dope the Mayor is pulling,” the doctor warns. “Unfortunately for us he’s got enough rope for every dope here.”

A hunter named Joanne (Katerina McCrimmon) takes on the mission, stalks the monster armed with guns and knives, and (does this really need a spoiler alert?) the two lonely people become the best of friends.

There are subplots, such as a simmering proto-romance between the doctor and Francine.  There is a happy ending. And over the course of the ninety-minute musical, there are some dozen musical numbers, meant to highlight Danny Mefford’s choreography and Amber Ruffin’s jokey lyrics rather than Ruffin and David Schmoll’s music. 

It might baffle people to learn that Amber Ruffin, celebrated comedy talk show writer and host as well as Tony-nominated librettist for “Some Like It Hot,” spent a dozen years with two co-creators putting together “Bigfoot.’ I wondered whether it was the creative team’s reputation that drew in performers with such impressive track records – Henson, Tony nominee for Mean Girls, and the last Elf; Crystal Lucas-Perry, Tony nominee for Ain’t No Mo, and a revelation as John Adams in 1776; Jason Tam, six-time Broadway veteran, last seen as the Squip in Be More Chill.  They do a fine job with parts that are just not as good as their best material. I remember when Alex Moffat, SNL alumnus, made his Broadway debut in “The Cottage” three years ago, how his aberrant acrobatics were among the highlights of that comedy. But in a scene in “Bigfoot” that sounds similar – the mayor keeps on shooting himself by accident all over his body – it was not so much a moment of low comedy, as just a low moment.

Still, “Bigfoot” has something to offer. Maybe there is even some political significance, since it is explicitly set in the 1980s and there is a reference to Reagan era trickle-down economics. What’s clearer is the well-meaning and warm-hearted social message: Everybody deserves to belong. 

Bigfoot
MTC at New York City Center through April 26
Running time: 90 minutes no intermission
Tickets: $59 – $199
By Amber Ruffin, Kevin Sciretta and David Schmoll
Directed and choreographed by Danny Mefford
Scenic design by Tim Mackabee, costume design by Ricky Reynoso, lighting design by Mextly Couzin, sound design by Sun Hee Kil, hair, wig and makeup design by J. Jared Janas and Cassie Williams
Cast: Grey Henson as ‘Bigfoot,’ Crystal Lucas-Perry as ‘Francine,’ Katerina McCrimmon as ‘Joanne,’ Alex Moffat as ‘Mayor,’  Jason Tam as ‘Doctor’, Jade Jones as ‘As Cast’, Jake Letts, Kala Ross, and Mike Millan.