Tigers Be Still

Friday October 1, 2010

Tigers Be Still

Roundabout Theater Underground

So for once I was one who was late meeting up with Rhett at The Ritz, our pre-theater rally point for this evening. With our drinks in hand and excited about seeing a show we both never heard of, it looked like we were in for a good evening.

We made our way down 46th Street towards the Laura Pell Theater, more specifically we were heading to the Underground Black Box theater. Which was created by the Roundabout to cultivate new work by emerging writers and directors by giving them the opportunity to debut their plays and musicals as full-scale productions.

So tonight's show Tigers Be Still by Kim Rosenstock and Directed Sam by Gold, tells the story of two sisters Sherry played by Halley Feiffer and Grace played by Natasha Lyonne. The two sisters and their unseen mother are in the throws of depression. Sherry has finished her degree in Art Therapy and can't find a job, Grace's fiance has left her for his podiatrist, and the girls mother has closed herself off from the world after gaining a lot of weight. The plays opens up with Sherry greeting the audience and explaining that she has just obtained a job and gives us her and sisters back story. The job that Sherry gets is at the local high school and is that of an Art teacher, she also takes on the Principal of the high school's Son Zack, as her first patient.

After many funny and clever lines, a drunken banter between Sherry and her sister grace, we see that these fragile and vulnerable women have to pull them selves together, and get on with living. Trying to help Zack with his problems of anger management and general teenage angst. Sherry is stumbling and a bit of touch with her client. She continues to push and eventually makes some headway with the young man. A touching scene in the second half of the play in which Zack and Sherry are sitting in his mothers shoe closet, reminds us of the mortality and unpredictability that makes up our time here on earth.

Ms. Feiffer has a sense of raw childlike innocence and her earnest approach to such a dowdy character is refreshing. With a great comic timing that made her steal scenes in the films like the Slums of Beverly Hills and American Pie, Natasha Lyonne brings to this production a brash, self-loathing, and irrational woman who was in love and was hurt beyond belief. John Magaro as Zack is the typical teenage boy who hates the whole world and no one gets him, plays his part well and as the show progresses I become more and more enamoured by him.

All in all this production is a reason why I love Theater especially, new and fresh works such as this. The simple, and real truths that Ms. Rosenstock shows us are so close to home that everyone can see a bit of themselves in one of the characters, and this to me is a sign of good theater.

So Tigers Be Still I give it a TOP.

Tigers Be Still

By Kim Rosenstock

Friday October 1st, 7pm.

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One of my favorite things about the theater is when I get to see something new that I know little or nothing about. Could it be the next RENT?...or the next "Glory Days"? (G-d Forbid!...lol)...Will there be some minor celebrity who's using this as an opportunity to really hone their skills?...or maybe an up and coming no-name actor that will really make a mark with this performance?

Well I got exactly that kind of thrill when I saw "Tigers Be Still" at the Roundabout Underground's Black Box Theater. My partner in crime,Carlos, and I had our pre-theater cocktail(s) at The Ritz. I really like that place when its not too crowded, but that's rare (good for them!). We both admitted that other than hearing that it co-starred Natasha Lyonne (of "Slums of Beverly Hills","American Pie", and "But I'm A Cheerleader" fame), we really didn't know ANYTHING about "Tigers...".

It's actually a simple 4 person play about Sherry (the brilliantly specific Halley Feiffer),a lovable loser,with the perfect Minnesota accent (gosh,you betcha!) who moves back in with her divorced mom and older sister (Lyonne) to get her post-college life started. Her first job is as an art teacher, slash art therapist at a school, where the principal (Reed Birney) is a recently widowed Dad,who used to date (and is still in love with) Sherry's Mom.

This is one of those shows where WHAT happens is not nearly as important as the conversations,realizations,and emotions between people involved.

When the Principal, Joseph, finds his son Zack (the endearing+edgy John Magaro) hiding in his dead mothers shoe closet, we don't wait for some crazy twist about Zack deciding to be a Tranny, or an overly dramatic fit, where Dad tears down the shelves and destroys the memory of dead mom. We don't need anything so catastrophic to occur. We just need the real,heartfelt,connection (or lack thereof) between a Widowed Man and his mourning son. Sometimes what people are really thinking and feeling can be more "catastrophic" than any action or event you could portray onstage.

This play is ultimately about overcoming sorrow. Conquering fear. Reconciling with the past, and embracing Hope. As sappy and mushy as that might sound, "Tigers Be Still" never comes across that way. Miss Rosenstock gives us real, multi-dimensional,flawed yet likable people. And she gives each of these 4 a chance to really connect, not only with each other, but with the audience as well. When big sister Grace (Natasha Lyonne) who is grief stricken over being cheated on and dumped by her fiance, is still in her pajamas for the umpteenth day in a row, watching the sex scene from "Top Gun" on a loop, and gargling down a bottle of Jack Daniels, you giggle. But when sister Sherry joins her in a moment of shared despair, and together they watch as they sing along to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", well u kind of smile through the tears, cause in some way, haven't we all been there? And when Grace dribbles some whiskey as she curls up next to her now equally hopeless sister, and says "I really missed you", I shivered and even cringed a little. Cause it can be so easy to be pulled down into negativity and self doubt, especially when someone you love is already there, and seems to want nothing more than for you to join them. Misery really does love company.

Thankfully Rosenstock breaks up a lot of the sorrow with deadpan wit, and some great physical comedy. And, without giving anything away, the final message is an uplifting one.

The first thing I said to Carlos (once we had reached our "50 feet away before talking about the show" rule!...lol), was that I hope this show NEVER goes to broadway. Because work like this reminds me of what is so great about OFF-Broadway shows. There's an intimacy, and a simplicity, that CAN NOT survive on a big stage with a thousand or more people in the audience. Some shows start out exactly as they should, in a modest venue, with a shoestring budget, but a lot of talent, and a shitload of passion. It's viewed as some sort of victory when the show gets moved to a larger house, or a bigger commercial run. As an actor, I would be the first one to yell, "Yeah, Take us to Broadway baby!", for obvious reasons (Money being pretty high on that list)...But very often it's the work that suffers. Whether a small show gets lost in a big house, or an obscure subject matter can't find it's audience on the great white way, inevitably, we lose some GREAT theater to the Machine that is BROADWAY (first things that come to mind are "Taboo", "The Farnsworth Invention", and "Urinetown").

If there is any justice, shows like "Tigers Be Still" will find funding, maybe get extended, or even play a commercial run Off-Broadway, and hopefully get published for schools and community/regional theaters across the country to rediscover...and these gems will NEVER be stolen from their off-broadway homes and sold into the White Slavery that is The Great White Way!...lol

On a scale of Top, Bottom, or Versatile, I say this show is like Me!: a small power top, ready to take on The Big Boys, any day!...lol