Review of "Tiny Beautiful Things"

I find it fascinating that complete strangers will bare their souls to anonymous advice columnists, seeking their opinion on everything from relationships, sex, careers, and their mental and physical well-being.  That’s what occurs on stage in Long Wharf’s production of Tiny Beautiful Things.  Co-conceived by Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail, and Nia Vardalos, and adapted by the latter from the best-selling book by advice columnist Cheryl Strayed, this wisp of a show (it’s only 75 minutes long) is structured as a question and answer give and take.   Three actors, Brian Sgambati, Elizabeth Ramos, and Paul Pontrelli, play numerous characters writing (reciting) very intimate and personal pleas to Sugar, Strayed’s anonymous, online pen name, for her thoughtful, insightful and heartfelt responses.

Ms. Vardalos has not given the play much dramatic arc so while the initial set-up is intriguing, after 15 minutes of the back and forth my interest began to wane.  The impassioned appeals for help and the subsequent replies are powerful and emotionally charged, but there needs to be a degree of theatricality to strengthen and diversify the output on stage.

Ms. Strayed, an accomplished writer (she penned the 2012 best-seller, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail), can dazzle, as demonstrated in the play, with her lengthy, sensitive, and highly personal elucidations.  What made her an Internet sensation was the honest, intimate experiences she shared with those individuals who wrote to her. 

The actress Cindy Cheung beautifully and compellingly portrays the advice columnist.  She effectively conveys a world weariness and depth of experience like the woman she portrays.  Ms. Cheung delivers her responses to the emailed letters with an intensity of feeling and compassion.  The other cast members earnestly communicate their distress, grief, and hardships with apprehension and optimistic anticipation.

Director Ken Rus Schmoll has smartly cast actors that are everyday types of people—those you might have as co-workers, meet in a coffee shop, or exercise side by side with at the gym.  They more realistically suggest individuals that may seek online help.  Setting the action outside allows the actors to wander about the yard, in and out of the spotlight.

The set for the interactions, by Designer Kimie Nishikawa, is a space occupied by a two-story house with a porch, astroturf, to signify a grassy lawn, and a picnic table center stage.  All the action takes place around the wooden table.  While eye-catching and well-constructed, the sizeable set is primarily an expensive backdrop.

Sound Designer Leah Gelpe’s neighborhood sonances of insects, children playing in the distance, and a train passing by in the distance, are heard just in the background, but add a naturalness to the production.

Tiny Beautiful Things, at the Long Wharf Theatre through March 10^th.