DESCRIPTION

Tiny Music is an original soundscape musical by Noah Drew about what it means to listen – really listen – to those we love, to the world around us, and to the call of our own hearts.

Loosely adapted from Shalom Aleichem’s short story “The Fiddle” and partly based on members of Noah’s family, the story follows Ezra, a 25-year-old Jewish-ish autistic man, whose sensory-processing disorder causes him to experience sounds in a heightened way. Sonic details in his environment, unnoticed by others, occur for Ezra as music – sometimes distracting, sometimes overwhelming, sometimes wonderfully entrancing.

Throughout the show, the audience is immersed in Ezra’s world through scenes, songs, instrumentation, live-processing effects, and a highly detailed soundscore. Realistic sounds – and the actors’ voices – float, loop, blur, distort, extend, rhythmicalize and harmonize as Ezra navigates his environment.

SYNOPSIS

Ezra is a 22-year-old neurodivergent Jewish-ish Canadian. He lives with his parents, Sharon and Avi, who steer him towards a stable, “normal” life. Longing for independence, Ezra secretly begins taking violin lessons from the charismatic, unconventional Sylvie. In addition to nurturing his musicality, the lessons open Ezra to surprising aspects of himself and his culture. Ezra mistakes his and Sylvie’s growing connection for romantic love.

Ezra’s parents find out about his feelings for Sylvie, and disapprove. Sylvie becomes uncomfortable and leaves the city for a while. Ezra travels on his own for the first time to pursue Sylvie, but shortly after finding her Ezra learns his dad is fighting for his life in hospital. Sylvie accompanies Ezra back to the city, and to the hospital. Upon seeing them, Sharon confronts Sylvie, and the two argue loudly. Overwhelmed, Ezra’s reality ripples; old-world folktale characters from his music lessons appear around him. In this altered state, Ezra connects meaningfully with Avi before he dies. As they recover from these shocks, Ezra begins to find a new sense of self… and Sharon begins to learn how to finally listen better, deeper, more.