Another key takeaway is that horse racing and storytelling are different animals. Explosive, nonstop speed out of the gate at the track can determine an entire ride, but theatre requires calibration and building momentum.<\/p>\n
On stage, while recalling his Long Island, New York childhood and personifying his parents, Montano starts out so relentlessly breathless that he leans hard into distracting overstatement. Less really can be more. Surely, the maker of a piece called SMALL can appreciate that.<\/p>\n
Beyond the overwrought, performative opening stretch of the work directed by Jessi D. Hill, Montano deserves credit for his messy-but-real coming-of-age tale set in the \u201970s. Over 100 minutes, he shares how his pint-sized stature as a kid got him bullied and benched his West Side Story-inspired dreams of being a dancer. Once his mother took him to the Belmont Park racetrack, he was bent on a career of a different color. He\u2019d determined he was born to be a jockey.<\/p>\n
Montano recalls a cast of colorful racetrack eccentrics who showed him the ropes, notably the kindhearted star jockey Robert A. Pineda. He remembers, too, how straddling Thoroughbreds and donning silks was a scary business \u2014 and worse. Potentially career-ending growth spurts in his late teens led him to desperate and reckless measures to shed weight to be able to ride.<\/p>\n
He turned to eating nothing but lettuce, \u201cflipping\u201d meals (as in purging), and popping speed, or \u201cblack beauties,\u201d as he called the drugs. He was on a collision course. The raw and wrenching story of the lengths he went to lose 12 pounds overnight for an all-important race \u2014 all too fittingly on a horse named \u201cSow & Reap\u201d \u2014 makes for the show\u2019s bracing centerpiece.<\/p>\n
Montano\u2019s brief coda relates how he returned to his original career vision after a night at a disco. The dance world was a different proving ground, but he eventually traded horses for Cats on Broadway and work onscreen. Life comes with huge twists of fate, and SMALL offers a worthwhile reminder.<\/p>\n
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SMALL summary<\/p>\n
SMALL, Robert Montano\u2019s solo stage memoir, follows his life journey and changing career dreams that went from his boyhood vision of being a jockey to grown-up success as a dancer on Broadway and an actor on screen.<\/p>\n
The show premiered in 2022 in Stony Point, New York, and made its Off-Broadway debut at Primary Stages a year later before returning for its current run at the Pershing Square Signature Center.<\/p>\n
What to expect at SMALL<\/p>\n
Dressed in street clothes, Montano relates his story on a simple but evocative set by Christopher Swader and Justin Swader depicting a barn-like paddock area and a few props: a stool there, and a couple whips hung on beams there. Jamie Roderick\u2019s lighting lends textures and drama, including beaming bright red when a 14-year-old Montano is set up with a woman in her early 20s. Brian Ronan\u2019s keen sound design makes us prick up our ears to bugle fanfare (the famous \u201cCall to the Post\u201d), horses clomping, lights clicking on and off, a car screeching, and much more.<\/p>\n
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What audiences are saying about SMALL<\/p>\n
Theatregoers discussing the show on Mezzanine and Reddit shared mixed reactions to Montano\u2019s star turn, the running time, and the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpirited solo performance. A bit long but engaging.\u201d – Mezzanine user D T Who should see SMALL<\/p>\n Fans of solo memoirs will appreciate Montano\u2019s approach to a well-traveled genre. Learn more about SMALL off Broadway<\/p>\n Robert Montano\u2019s stage memoir takes some time to settle into a rhythm that clicks, but it ends up reminding us that life is a dance packing challenges, perils, and joyful highs.<\/p>\n
\n\u201c100 minutes of overacting on very thin and repetitive material \u2013 he was getting taller and had difficulties meeting the weight requirements of a jockey.\u201d – Mezzanine user kat
\n\u201cI found the acting to be too over the top and the show too long.\u201d – Reddit user u\/Kathrynxuxx<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFans of coming-of-age stories will enjoy Montano’s tale of how he rolled with life’s transformative changes.
\nTheatregoers who\u2019ve seen Montana dance in the Broadway shows Cats, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and On the Town will savor the chance to hear his story. Dancers typically don\u2019t get to say much.<\/p>\n