Andrew Lippa, the composer and lyricist, first showed his interest in turning Big Fish into a musical after meeting Bruce Cohen, a producer of the movie at a party in New York City. Unbeknownst to him, John August and the other producers had a similar thought and were planning on calling Lippa about the music. August and Lippa met in 2003 and began to turn the story into a musical. The script of the musical, even though it was written by the same man who wrote the screenplay, is a combination of the book, the movie, and new material inspired by the story exclusively for musical. August and Lippa understood that their were aspects of the book and of the movie that could not transfer to the stage and also that the story as a whole needed to be redrafted to fit the vocabulary of a musical. Dan Jinks, one of the original producers said this when the musical was announced :“John August and Andrew Lippa have taken inspiration from Daniel Wallace’s book and Tim Burton’s movie and completely re-imagined this ambitious story for the stage.”

The team signed on with Susan Stroman (Crazy for You, The Producers, Show Boat, Oklahoma!) to direct and choreograph. The musical style of the show is recognizably contemporary musical theatre, but has hints of Western and circus components, as the plot heads in those directions. Read more about what August and Lippa have to say about creating the musical in this interview.