Florida Studio Theatre's 'A Tailor Near Me' stitches threads of friendship and art

Michael Tucker’s “A Tailor Near Me” is having a regional premiere at FST. “Tailor” sounds mundane. It’s not. In Greek mythology, the Fates were immortal tailors weaving the threads of life and death. The tailor of this play is merely human. But the fabric of life and death is still his life’s work.

With this two-hander play, there’s abundant character study — and very little plot. To sum it up, Sam (David Cantor) is a successful writer living in the Upper West Side of New York City. His best friend from college, Robert, is dying of cancer at his Hollywood home.

Sam wants to look respectable at his looming funeral. He goes to Alfredo the Tailor (Paul Nicholas) to adjust his dress suit pants. The tailor talks him into making him a new “bespoke suit” — fancy talk for “tailor-made.”

Over the course of various fittings, pinnings and measurements, Sam and Alfredo discuss their careers, wives, origins, dreams and ambitions. In the end, Sam loves his new suit. That’s what happens. But what’s revealed about Alfredo and Sam is far more important.

Cantor and Nicholas deliver strong performances. With two lesser actors, the script might seem talky and detached. These top-flight actors pour their heart and souls into Sam and Alfredo. And their characters live and breathe.

Nicholas’ Alfredo is in his 80s. He’s a Sephardic Jew and a master tailor. In the Peronist era, he’d been studying to be a doctor in Argentina — until his life was derailed by fascism, emigration and racial barriers in the U.S. The script never spells it out, but it’s a good bet he was studying to be a doctor of psychiatry.

His discussions with Sam show acute psychological insight, a therapist’s grasp of the Socratic method, and lightning-fast diagnoses of his client’s emotional state.

Sam’s getting a tailored suit, not signing up for psychoanalysis. But he might as well have.

Cantor’s Sam has an Ashkenazi Jewish background. He’s a 60-something writer with one best-seller and a critically acclaimed novel that didn’t hit the charts. Under Alfredo’s deft questions, you discover that Sam’s best friend had been a bohemian writer in college. Back in the day, Sam and Robert believed in art for art’s sake — and despised money-grubbing bourgeoise values.

But his friend changed his tune when he became a Hollywood producer. With the bottom line in mind, Robert launched a TV series based on one of Sam’s novels from the 1980s. Robert flew his old friend out to LA and made him the head writer for seven years.

 The show was a hit and Sam got rich — but he suffered from countercultural cognitive dissonance. (Real writers don’t sell out, man.) Sam felt like a sell-out — and bugged out. He flew back to New York City and wrote the novel that critics loved. His friendship was never the same after that. And Sam feels guilty as hell.

Director Kate Alexander makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping on Sam and Alfredo. You’re a fly on the wall — they talk, you listen. Tucker’s best-known for playing a character on the hit TV show “LA Law.” That low-key, 1980s cool informs his dialogue.

There are no “Playhouse 90” moments of histrionics and hard words. Everyone’s soft-spoken and civilized. The drama’s subtle, not contrived. It’s tough work for a director, but Alexander pulls it off. She was clearly listening.

Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay’s lovingly detailed tailor shop looks like they magically teleported a tailor shop to the FST stage. It doesn’t look like a set — it looks like the real thing. Madison Queen’s costumes make the characters — they’re utterly believable, too.

“A Tailor Near Me” is about human connection — obviously. But it’s more than that. The play explores the eternal triangle of art, money and people. How do you stay true to your art, make a living and do right by your friends and family? There are no easy answers.

Over the course of their Socratic dialogue, Sam and Alfredo drop their barriers. Like any good unpaid therapist, the tailor convinces Sam he shouldn’t feel guilty for walking away from Robert. He answered the muse — and doesn’t owe his friend an apology.

Could the writer and the tailor be friends? Alfredo resists the suggestion. In the end, it’s a strong possibility.

Either way, Sam loves his new suit.