Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Moises Kaufman, is two shows: Robin Williams and everything else. We come to see Robin, and they hit us with Iraq in 2003.
Williams, full-bearded, is a tiger in a cage. When an American soldier (Glenn Davis) sticks his hand in the cage, the tiger eats it. He is, after all, a tiger. Another soldier (Brad Fleischer) kills the tiger. From there on, Robin is the ghost of the tiger, and his amusing stories and musings are set against an Iraqi domestic squabble that is screamed, a lot of it in Arabic. There is a lot of boring nonsense between the two soldiers. I think they are trying to make some kind of political statement, but I don't know what it is. There's also madness with Sadam Hussein's dead son's ghost and much ranting and torturing.
The whole project is misleading. What do we want from Robin Williams? Charm, humor, feeling. He comes through - he can really deliver a line, and he shines when he's on. But the play is mostly diatribes by Iraqis or a demented American soldier, giving us not enough of what we came for: Williams. There is very little new political insight that would enlighten us with a new viewpoint or new information. We already know things are tough and that women have a hard lot in that part of the world. There are religious and political games, and a conflicted, confused search for, and appeal to, God. (I asked God, and She told me we have to straighten out our own mess.)
The set by Derek McLane is fascinating, lighting by David Lander is quite good, costumes by David Zinn (except for Robin's) are fine. For me, I found Kaufman's direction to be static at times and overblown at others. Why see the play? Robin is a treasure, and it's a pleasure to see him on a Broadway stage.
