See it if The fine threads of emotions, love, loss, brutality and longing weave a rich tapestry of stories that are the lives of real people.
Don't see it if You have no patience for introspection. The age of Trump fights against emotion, if that is where you are, stay away.
See it if You like quiet, intelligent theater without a linear plot. Acting was superb! Play was powerful.
Don't see it if You are looking for traditional two act drama.
See it if you love Nia Vardalos and cathardic theater.
Don't see it if you want a straight linear storyline. This play is basically a bunch of monologues taken from an online advice column, but it's great.
See it if You are fan of self help, spiritual or new age writing. If the personal growth industry or emotional trauma recovery intrigues you.
Don't see it if You want a linear or plot driven play.
See it if "Dear Abby" comes alive, are interested in the effects responses may have on troubled souls, or enjoy storytelling thru a series of letters.
Don't see it if Would not like a potpourri of issues in a "dear Abby" style, if you do not enjoy small venues, or if you want a large scale production.
See it if If you liked "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed, she has a singular voice, and like an emotional and meaningful experience. Nia Vardalos is great.
Don't see it if you don't want to see people talking about their feelings, and don't like one woman shows, which this almost is.
See it if you want a touching 90 minutes of human connection and empathy. Beautiful performances from all four actors
Don't see it if you need a traditional, narrative story arc
See it if you're a fan of Cheryl Strayed or the book, you enjoy non-linear and non-plot-centric shows, you need a good public cry
Don't see it if you want a linear story and plot with an arch, you don't like being emotionally incapacitated in public
"An advice column doesn't really a play make...Strayed can turn an elegant phrase...But there's no drama here, no development, no increasing complexity or deepening of feeling. It's just a series of questions and answers, and even the deep empathy of the latter after a while becomes a little bit dull. Vardalos, who has a natural stage presence and the skill to make a pause in the conversation vibrate with unspoken thoughts, goes a long way toward holding our interest."
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"The questions are gorgeously intoned by Brannon, Narciso, and Woolams-Torres…But intoning those questions is, essentially, all they do. To the extent drama occurs along the way, it's found in the gradual peeling away of the layers of artifice Sugar builds up around herself to defend against the dangers of Internet anonymity…Is that journey enough to power a full evening, even one this comparatively short? For me, no."
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"These three actors are so good they bring these epistolary exchanges closer to creating the real human connection for which the internet will never be a substitute.
Vardalos not only steps into Ms. Strayed's shoes with grace and feeling but has done a good job of trimming, adding and reorganizing some of the material. The book's most heart-wrenching segment rounds out the piece with a get-out-your-handkerchief moment...Handsomely staged and warmly performed."
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"This group of gifted actors portraying all sorts of characters reaching out for advice from ‘Sugar,’ pulls us skillfully and honestly into their stories and predicaments. It’s almost shocking how we can be so thoroughly engaged so quickly into these personal pleas for help and guidance…It feels utterly genuine and sometimes profound. It’s a beautiful piece of work Vardalos has created, not tiny at all, although as a ‘play,' I struggled with the forward drive and momentum."
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"Unbearably moving…’Tiny Beautiful Things’ inspires such strong emotional reactions that the awkward set-up winds up not mattering much…What’s most startling and rewarding about her stories is not just that they are told well, but that they are applied to advice-seeker’s dilemmas to which they don’t on the surface seem relevant…Is it too schmaltzy to call this play a tiny beautiful thing?"
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"The goopiest play of the year. In comparison, ‘Love Letters’ is Chekhov...I kept waiting for these letter writers to feel so much better about themselves after listening to Sugar grovel in her sordid past, and be done with her. But no. Sugar has learned from life’s trials and mistakes, and passes on those lessons free of charge (except for theatergoers) with her tight face scrunched into the deepest empathy and bathed with tears, lotsa tears."
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"Vardalos portrays Strayed with no-nonsense directness…Each time one of the other actors appears, he or she is playing a different person so there is little opportunity to build a character…Sugar’s answers come out in polished prose. I would have preferred reading them at my leisure over hearing them on a stage…Thomas Kail’s direction tries hard to enliven a basically static situation. I admired all the good intentions, but I found the effort ultimately misguided."
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"Vardalos has an unaffected, straightforward steadiness and a compassionate face to match someone who presumes to answer pleas for help...Perhaps to distract from the 80-minute play’s static, monotonous, confessional quality, the letter writers wander the place looking at knickknacks...Meanwhile, Sugar reveals her own life traumas and comes up with uplifting psychobabble about healing and accepting 'the authentic you'...It’s just too sappy to be theatrical."
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