Plot: From his earliest days, Tarlow could only sing. People around him tried to get him to talk, but to no avail. Tarlow didn't realize he was different from other people. He thought that he was speaking just like everyone else. For a time, he became a celebrity. One unfortunate day, he sang about a terrible typhoon and society shunned him. Psychiatrist Dr. Dyson and Linguist Dr. Nimoy try to find the reason for Tarlow's singing so they can cure him.
Review: When I went into the play, I was under the impression that it would be completely in Japanese. The play ended up being half in Japanese and half in English. A majority of Dr. Dyon's lines are in English and whenever there was an important scene, it was either performed twice (once in Japanese and once in English) or there were creative subtitles for the conversation. This really did help us in understanding the plot better. It also added a bit of humor to the show.
All of the performances from the actors were excellent. Jay Kabira brilliantly brought the fabulously egotistical Dyson to life and stole almost every scene he was in. Meanwhile, Shingo Katori's singing was spot-on, which amazed me since the show ran for just about 2 hours straight without an intermission. I think this proves what a talent he is. And adding to the mix, Shinya Niiro, who played a couple of very different characters, held his own despite his characters not having a lot of lines. Many of his characters relied totally on body language, which can be extremely difficult in live theater. I will definitely be keeping an eye open for him in the future! Finally, Keiko Horiuchi. She did well in the Japanese sections, but she seemed to struggle just a little in the English parts. Luckily, she still managed to bring across the complete emotional change that Nimoy goes through. Despite not knowing any of these actors personally, I felt very proud of their performances.
Unfortunately, the show has ended it's US run. I believe there will be a short run in Japan, but I do not have any information on that. If you are lucky enough to be able to see Talk Like Singing, please do. I think you will be extremely pleased.