NO ONE IS ALONE
TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS centers on our shared sense of community The rapt expressions on the faces of fellow theatergoers at Pasadena Playhouse drives that observation home. There are tears as well, occasional sniveling and full-throated laughter, too. This play engenders that sort of response for the eighty minutes we commiserate, laugh and search our own souls. “Sugar” (Nia Vardalos) acts as the prime-mover, I suppose.
Let me explain. Initially, the audience is introduced to an overworked mom beginning her day at home going through the routines that inform daily life. Checking her laptop, she unexpectedly encounters an invitation from an online advice columnist to assume the role of “Sugar” and take over the advice column from the online literary magazine, The Rumpus. While the offer is both surprising and out of the blue, she very quickly pooh-poohs the idea before abruptly changing course and agreeing to the proposal.
Let’s pause for a moment and examine how the premise of the play evolves. First of all, it is solidly connected to the bestselling book of the same title by Cheryl Strayed. The author gathered together a collection of letters from her own advice column which happened to be honest, gut-wrenching, raw testimonials about the personal struggles and possibilities in the life experience. Journalist Marshall Heyman, struck by the book’s revealing perspectives, passes it on to his friend Thomas Kail (whose claim to fame is the off-the-charts musical HAMILTON) and he shares it with Nia Vardalos. The playwright, also a 
respected actress, finds herself totally consumed by the individual stories within its pages and decides to bring it to the stage medium, inculcating input from all quarters including many interactions with Cheryl Strayed herself. A convoluted journey to be sure.
This critic actively speculates before viewing the production about the challenges inherent in such a dramatic endeavor. It suggests a static evening of theatre, enlivened by a heartfelt performance by its leading lady at the very least. By the time the evening ends, this viewer not only celebrates an exhilarating performance by Ms. Vardalos, but – unexpectedly – finds himself totally engaged in the quandaries of the anonymous (emphasis on “us”) people in our own lives. It doesn’t matter whether she could be in line at the grocery store cashier, monitoring the accuracy of the register pricing or he might be a police officer writing out a ticket for a traffic infraction for the umpteenth time. These conceivably could be the random folks in our lives who discard their anonymity during the course of this play. The story excerpts of several dozen lives within the framework of Sugar’s own life story burrow their way into our own inner monologues and they are far from a “static” exercise shoehorned into a stage vehicle.
Nia Vardalos‘ performance hits all the bases. Initially, she reveals her own awkwardness in responding to the random expressions of tumult that emerge from the column’s readers. Then, she readily begins to signal her willingness to enter their world – “listening”, answering with empathy and guiding self-appraisal. Eventually, she mulls over the internal strife of her own life and its parallels to the ones she seeks to advise. All the while she remains on a different plane from those readers, choosing to stay behind her own curtain of anonymity…until she doesn’t.
Thomas Kail‘s direction, here recreated by Sheri Eden Barber, enlists several actors in a small ensemble who give voice to the inner lives represented within the advice column. Giovanni Adams, Natalie Wollams-Torres and Teddy Canez are tasked with the burden of creating these snippets of character revelations and molding them into breathing, true-to-life human beings. No attempt to do more than suggest a change in milieu, education, etc. is in evidence. The aim is to present their humanity rather than pin them down to stereotypical (or atypical for that matter) features of a particular life experience. How do they fare? All of them are impressive in creating the onstage dynamic. The interactions involving Sugar serve to encourage the audience to question the possibility that, despite the intrusion of the computer, their interface is indeed “in the moment”.
In essence, how do all of us deal with the high moments as well as the unpleasant disappointments tucked into everyday existence on this planet? For example, how should a young man respond when the parents who rejected him at a crucial time earlier in his life now wish to turn the page? Or how does a loved one cope with indescribable loss and still manage to move forward?
Jeff Croiter‘s lighting suitably – and subtly – accents the smooth pacing of the individual stories. In fact, all of the technical credits are on the mark.
To the squeamish among the audience in matters sexual or language-related, one would be well-served to find a more saccharine Rodgers & Hammerstein musical playing at a different local theatre. What happens on this stage – instead – impacts in a more raw, visceral (and sometimes hilarious) way. Always, though, it is real.
pc: Jenny Graham
