''Tracy's Tiger'' is a short novel by

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''T ...

. It was first published in 1951 by Doubleday, illustrated with drawings by

Henry Koerner Henry Koerner (born Heinrich Sieghart Körner; August 28, 1915 – July 4, 1991) was an Austrian-born American painter and graphic designer best known for his early Magical Realist works of the late 1940s and his portrait covers for Time magazi ...

. It appears in the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

collection "The William Saroyan Reader," first edition 1958, published by George Braziller, Inc. The story of Tracy's Tiger was adapted into an original musical in two acts for the

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary pla ...

's 2007 season. This world-premiere production, with books and lyrics by Linda Alper, Douglas Langworthy and Penny Metropulos and music and additional lyrics by Sterling Tinsley, was directed by Penny Metropolus. Produced in the New Theatre, the smallest of

's theaters, the musical met with a warm reception from critics and played to sold-out audiences for the entire season. The Saroyan story was transplanted from New York to 1950s

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

for the musical. Twenty-something Tracy, whose jivey tiger is invisible to all but him (and the audience), falls instantly for Laura, who has her own invisible and very seductive tigress. But on his first visit to Laura's home, Tracy makes a possibly irremediable mistake. The tiger becomes visible and is hunted down on the streets of San Francisco by a compassionate police officer, under the orders of his bumbling chief. The moving finale is a scene of redemption and reincarnation of characters not seen since Act 1. Tinsley, who also played the piano in this production, worked in a wide range of musical genres, matching the genre to the character.

Notes

1951 American novels Novels by William Saroyan Doubleday (publisher) books {{1950s-novel-stub