REVIEW: ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ keeps one at arm’s length

REVIEW: ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ keeps one at arm’s length

The Sandbox Collective’s staging of “Tiny Beautiful Things” at Power Mac Center Spotlight presents a peculiar paradox. It’s a show that ostensibly hinges on human connection and raw vulnerability yet this Iza Calzado-starrer struggles to bridge the emotional depths of its material with its performances. 

What should be an intimate exploration of shared human experiences through an advice column becomes a somewhat distant affair, particularly due to a central performance that seems to resist the very vulnerability the play demands.

Based on Cheryl Strayed’s collection of advice columns and adapted for stage by Nia Vardalos, “Tiny Beautiful Things” follows an anonymous advice columnist known as “Sugar” as she responds to various letters seeking guidance on life’s complexities. Through her responses, Sugar weaves her own personal experiences of abuse, addiction, and healing into advice that attempts to connect with those reaching out for help.

Show at Odds

Jenny Jamora’s direction makes valiant attempts to create an environment of intimacy and relatability. The letter writers share and manipulate Sugar’s physical space, suggesting these anonymous correspondents are more than just distant voices but rather welcome presences in her world. This directorial choice could have powerfully reinforced the show’s themes of connection and shared experience, but unfortunately falls short in execution.

The disconnect becomes most apparent in Iza Calzado. Her portrayal of Sugar maintains a peculiar distance from the material’s emotional core. While technically proficient, her delivery maintains an almost unchanging tone throughout the two-hour runtime, even as the material shifts dramatically between light-hearted moments and profound emotional depths. 

When Calzado does display emotion, such as in scenes requiring tears, these moments don’t feel vulnerable nor organic for the speed with which she can conjure those tears. Her performance lacked the nuanced vulnerability that the role demands, creating an almost pristine version of Sugar that feels at odds with the character’s complex backstory of abuse, addiction, and survival.

Elements of Authenticity

Among the supporting cast, Gabby Padilla stands out as the production’s saving grace, managing to infuse distinct character work into what could have been mere letter recitations. In contrast, Rody Vera and Ketchup Eusebio’s performances, like Calzado’s, struggle to find the necessary emotional depth.

The production’s technical elements actually do more to establish Sugar’s character than the central performance. Kayla Teodoro’s set design—a lived-in, cluttered first floor of a modest two-story house—and Krystal Kane’s costume choices of comfortable basics create a sense of authenticity that the performance itself doesn’t quite match. The hyper-realistic functionality of the set, complete with working appliances, suggests an ordinary relatability that should have reinforced Sugar’s everyman quality.

Structural Challenges

The play’s format of consecutive letters and responses, while true to its source material of advice columns, creates pacing issues that make the two-hour runtime feel considerably longer. As the show progresses, the repetitive structure begins to wear, with each letter feeling increasingly drawn out. The material’s varying emotional tones, which should provide natural rhythm and contrast, instead blend together due to the uniformity of most of the cast’s performance styles.

Despite the production succeeding in creating a physically authentic world, Tiny Beautiful Things struggles to capture the raw vulnerability that might have made the source material emotionally powerful and resonant. When a play built entirely around vulnerability and human connection fails to embody these qualities in its central performance, the result is a production that, like its protagonist’s portrayal, keeps the audience at arm’s length—risking exactly the kind of emotional distance the material seeks to bridge.

 

 

Tickets: Php 2500 – Php 2700
Show Dates: Nov 16 – Dec 8, 2024
Venue: Power Mac Center Spotlight, Circuit Makati
Running Time: approx 2 hours (no intermission)
Company: The Sandbox Collective
Creatives: Nia Vardalos (playwright), Jenny Jamora (Director), Marcel David (assistant director), Kayla Teodoro (set designer), Kiefer Sison (lighting and technical director), Arvy Dimaculangan (sound designer), Krystal Kane (costume stylist)
Cast: Iza Calzado (Sugar), Rody Vera (letter writer), Gabby Padilla (letter writer), Ketchup Eusebio (letter writer), Brian Sy (male swing/letter writer), Regina De Vera (female swing/letter writer)