Review: ALL THESE PRETTY THINGS Is A Funny, Heartbreaking Journey at Theatre Row

There’s a reason Tracey Yarad’s All These Pretty Things has won awards and enjoyed sold-out performances at the Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringe Festivals–and that’s because it is a fantastic one-woman show.

As the opening production of the Australian Theatre Festival NYC’s seventh season, All These Pretty Things is an excellent choice from Co-Artistic and Executive Directors Connor Delves and Mark Barford. Directed by David Deblinger, it is storytelling and songwriting at its very best: funny, raw, unexpected, and moving.

Written following the harrowing end of her 23-year second marriage, Yarad lays herself completely bare for her audience. She holds nothing back.

Despite some technical glitches at the top of opening night, Yarad handled every hiccup like the consummate professional she is. Rather than allowing the interruptions to derail the evening, she incorporated them into the performance, improvising jokes and keeping the audience firmly in the palm of her hand. From the moment she stepped onto the stage, she had us.

And then there’s the opening number: “The Celibacy Song.” The title alone is enough to let the audience know exactly what kind of evening we're in for. Complete with singing bowl and hymnal overtones, Yarad immediately establishes that she is going to tell us everything–and she does.

She briefly touches on her first marriage at 21 to an eccentric man 17 years her senior, but even that story is quite the ride. Speaking of riding, her song “Riding a Bike” may be one of the funniest things I’ve seen on stage in a very long time. Let’s just say I will never look at a piano stool quite the same way again.

Yarad’s jazz-infused “Lost in Translation” takes us to the years she spent performing in Japan with her second husband–the very man who would ultimately break her heart. Like the early-aughts film of the same name, the song captures the late nights, language barriers, loneliness, and longing of living somewhere that isn’t quite home.

And whaddaya know? Yarad isn’t just a terrific storyteller. She also juggles!

Another highlight is “La.la.la.la.la.la. LOVE,” whose chorus brought to mind King George’s gloriously catchy “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton. It is playful, infectious, and yet another example of Yarad’s ability to find humor in the complicated business of love.

A gentle reverb adds color and lightness to “We Are Enough,” creating a beautiful shift in tone. And when technical difficulties strike again, Yarad simply rolls with them. Nothing is going to stop this woman from telling her story.

I’m not going to give away the pivotal moment that changes everything–you’ll have to see the show for yourself–but I will say this: you feel Yarad’s anguish. You watch her crumble. And then, slowly, you watch her rise.

What follows is not simply a story about heartbreak. It is a story about rebuilding. About finding yourself when the life you thought you were going to live forever suddenly disappears. And ultimately, about creating a new life for yourself in a new place.

Her song “Where Do I Fit in New York” will resonate particularly strongly with Australian expats, but really, with anyone who has ever found themselves far from home and wondered where they belong. New York can be an overwhelming place to start again, and Yarad captures both its enormity and its possibility.

The final number, “Wedgewood Blue,” speaks beautifully to the unexpectedness of life and the beauty of serendipity. After everything she has taken us through, Yarad arrives at a simple but powerful realization: home isn't necessarily where you started. Sometimes, you make it.

She ends the show with the words, “Home is right here. Right now.”

And what a crazy, beautiful home this is.

All These Pretty Things is funny. It is vulnerable. It is sometimes wonderfully inappropriate. But most importantly, it is honest.

Tracey Yarad doesn’t simply tell us her story–she invites us into it. And by the time she reaches the end, somehow, we’ve found a little piece of ourselves in it, too.

---

Learn more about Tracey at https://traceyyarad.com/home

Check out the Australian Theatre Festival NYC's season here

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.