Be Well-Advised: Nicely Staged 'Tiny Beautiful Things' Offers Perceptivity and Poignancy-- Chicago Theater Reviews

Theater Review

Tiny Beautiful Things
Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed
Adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos
Directed by Vanessa Stalling
Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago
Thru October 13
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Dear Sugar: (which is the name author Cheryl Strayed used in anonymously serving as an advice columnist for the literary website The Rumpus from 2010-12, with columns compiled into Tiny Beautiful Things and then turned into a play by Nia Vardalos, who starred at NYC's Public Theater in late 2017. A Chicago production by the Victory Gardens Theater has just opened.)

How might I fairly assess a play that is well-intentioned, well-written, well-acted and well-staged, which I liked far more than I didn't--and can readily perceive others loving far more than me--but which I just didn't quite find phenomenal?

Signed, Seth Saith

Presumably, given the perceptive and poignant responses enacted onstage under the direction of Vanessa Stalling, the reply from Sugar/Strayed would be more sage than my supposition, but perhaps she might offer:

Dear Seth Saith:  

You answered your own question. Review the show “fairly,” reflecting how you engaged with it, not how you think others might. 

Photo credit on all: Liz Lauren

Fair enough, especially as I did like the show.

And while I don’t have much familiarity with Strayed beyond seeing the movie Wild based on her memoir of embarking on a long, therapeutic hike, I highly respect her talents and accomplishments. I think a friend of mine even knew her personally back in the day.

Like probably everyone, I loved Vardalos from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which she wrote as well as starred in, and she was really sweet a few years ago when I met her at the Skokie Public Library. 

She was encouraged to adapt Strayed’s advice columns into a play by Thomas Kail, who directed it at the Public. He also happens to be the director of a show called Hamilton.

So the pedigrees behind the creation of Tiny Beautiful Things are obviously strong, and Stalling has become one of Chicago’s top directors while Victory Gardens regularly does fine work.

Per what I’ve read, in New York the play was set in Sugar’s apartment, but I like how Stalling decided to base it in a homey diner, complete with a blueish hue and faded Edward Hopper reprints on the wall.

Starring as Sugar at Victory Gardens is Janet Ulrich Brooks, and she is terrific. This isn’t a surprise, as I’ve seen her before—notably in 33 Variations at TimeLine—but she’s really well cast. 

Accompanying her are three actors/actresses—August Forman, Eric Slater and Jessica Dean Turner—who each serve as a variety of letter writers seeking Sugar’s advice.

As selected by Vardalos—who to be clear, does not appear in the show in Chicago; Strayed doesn’t
either but was on-hand Friday night—many of the included queries are rather weighty, including from individuals trying to understand love, deal with a miscarriage, facing the challenges of being transgender and cope with the death of a child.

I won’t reveal any of Sugar’s specific responses, but several rather incisively extend beyond the question at hand, as Strayed reflects on her own personal tragedies, as well as experiences from a job in which she counseled abused teen girls.

So Tiny Beautiful Things is certainly a show that pulls at your heartstrings. And I surmise this might be enough for many to love it.

But without suggesting that its brevity and unique structure are automatically imperfections, as an 80-minute show without a true narrative arc and a few moments that lag, it’s very good without feeling theatrically transcendent.

Undoubtedly, acutely to some letter writers and more widely to many readers, Sugar’s advice—and truly intuitive words—actually changed people’s lives.

But with great respect and regard, I can’t say that Tiny Beautiful Things, as a stage work, affected me to such a degree.