In a weird way "The Shaggs" reminded me of another missed opportunity this season, "The Road to Qatar." The two shows couldn't be more different in tone, but they both take fascinating true stories and can't figure out how to interestingly relate them to the audience. Whereas "The Road to Qatar" was silly, stupid and boring, "The Shaggs" makes for an angry, dark and frustrating night at the theater.
Check out their wikipedia page. These girls have quite the story to tell (in reality there were four daughters, not three), but the authors don't have the quite the right vehicle to tell it.
The three daughters almost remind me of an Edie Beale type, in that they are slightly socially awkward and shut away from the rest of the world, but they don't have any of her charms. What I see as delightful eccentricity in Beale, I simply find in the Wiggen daughters to be awkward and unlikeable. I always root for Edie, but I certainly didn't want to see these girls succeed. SPOILER**** If for the simple fact that I didn't want their dad to be able to share in there success******END SPOILER
A big problem with the piece is Peter Friedman's character. He is so unrelentingly unlikeable and Friedman is SO intense that as an audience it is hard to take. The character type makes you want to root for him if you could find some redeeming qualities about him, but they're in short supply. I don't fault the actor, but the writing. They need to do a better job making us understand where he's coming from.
My friend and I had an interesting debate the next day about the appeal of the actual Shaggs. What was their appeal? Did they actually have any talent? Why have they been such an inspiration for some (Kurt Cobain, Frank Zappa- who called them "better than the Beatles") but a mystery to others? These are the questions I would love to have had explored in possibly a straight play with samples of their music.
SPOILER*******
The only scene I thought really 100% worked was the dinner scene near the end of the play. Everything came together and I was caught off guard by how invested I became in the characters in that moment.
END SPOILER
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
Updated On: 5/17/11 at 08:40 AM
