Benjamin Sheuer Brings One-Man-Show ‘The Lion’ to Geffen Playhouse

Aryeh Harris-Shapiro

Solo shows can be a double-edged sword for even the most experienced performers. Superstars such as Whoopi Goldberg and John Leguizamo may have made holding a stage alone look easy, but, as anyone who frequents the theater can tell you, the approach can be high-risk when the show’s central figure doesn’t have the charisma or the chops to carry a night all by himself.

Benjamin Scheuer, whose Drama Desk Award-winning show “The Lion” arrives at the Geffen Playhouse on Jan. 4, has both in spades. “The Lion” isn’t exactly a typical monologue or one-man show. Instead, it’s a hybrid performance and concert written by Scheuer and directed by Sean Daniels, the current artistic director of Massachusetts’ Merrimack Repertory Theatre. The show follows Scheuer through his life as he navigates his thorny relationship with the father who both introduced him to music and filled his life with conflict and anger.

You can listen to the simple, folksy songs that make up “The Lion” on Apple Music, but you risk missing out on Scheuer himself, whose boyish charm is a feature of the real hurt and vulnerability at the center of the show. Without revealing too much, the simple nostalgia that Scheuer presents in the show opener “Cookie Tin Banjo” gives way to something much more difficult and wounded. It’s a credit to Scheuer’s light touch that the show isn’t weighed down by misery but instead lifted up by hope.

The show’s stop at the Geffen will be the last of its current tour, although Scheuer has expressed interest in seeing others take over his story if they can keep up musically. The honesty and generosity of spirit that pervades “The Lion” is a wonderful antidote to the conflict that consumed 2016. In the words of Scheuer himself during an interview with Broadway World, “I hope the show leaves people feeling a little less alone.”

“The Lion” comes to the Geffen Playhouse from Jan. 4 to Feb. 19.