I have never seen Robin Williams onstage before, but since I am in love with Patch Adams and Mrs. Doubtfire (not to mention the genie in Aladdin), I had to see him on Broadway in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, written by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Moises Kaufman). Well, fair warning: this is not one of his famosuly Disney-ish animated performances. In fact, it is quite the opposite, the show is a quite serious look at the mental disturbances that come with being in a warzone, and the resulting mental and physical breakdowns. Oh, and Robin Williams plays a tiger. Grr!
Robin Williams: Roar!
The story takes place in 2003, in Baghdad. 2 soldiers (deftly played by Brad Fleischer and Glenn Davis) are charged with guarding a wild tiger (Robin Williams). I can’t really give too much away, but a cycle of haunting is created – each character haunting another until finally no one is immune to the terrible horrors of war. Some of the most magical scenes take place in a topiary – a garden with animals made out of shrubs and trees. There is something oddly alive about the garden, as the characters search for God within this environment of animalistic creations.
Guarding the tiger…don’t you already know what’s going to happen? Guess again.
It would be daft to talk about the play without discussing the mood, which is nearly always super tense. There is rarely not a gun onstage (I hate guns), and there is rarely a moment when you think anyone is safe. Director Moises Kaufman did a fantastic job of creating a environment that actually feels like a warzone – the audience is as uneasy as the characters, and I could barely ever sit back and relax without worrying a gun was going to go off and I was going to bite my tongue off.
The cast of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Robin Williams gives a haunting (no pun intended) performance – and one can see his command of the stage right from the very beginning. It is truly a treat to see such a tour-de-force actor display his craft in such a raw manner. My only wish was that this show came to Broadway 7 or 8 years earlier, when we were still in the thick of Iraq.
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is currently playing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on 226 West 46th St in New York City.
