Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...This is a situational 90-minute play — you figure out where it’s going pretty quickly — but Feiffer’s writing invariably seems to me to be penned from a deep well of feeling. This is a piece that, in its best moments, makes agonizingly clear how hard we humans find these transitions in general and the loss of a parent in particular."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...The ridiculously lengthy title is your first clue: This is not one of those cancer stories wherein the devastating illness brings out the transcendent nobility of all in its path. Playwright Halley Feiffer is not here to expound on saintly patients, selfless caretakers and soul-baring deathbed catharses that send the dying to eternity cleansed of all rancor and leave the living bathed in the glow of redemption."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...What makes the arc feel other than conventional is, first, Karla's vividly blue humor and, second, engaging performances by Stef Tovar and Mary Williamson, the leads in this Route 66 Theatre staging directed by Keira Fromm. Williamson, in particular, demonstrates how a self-involved, potty-mouthed hard-ass like Karla might yet manage to feel and inspire love."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Playgoers experienced in sickroom dynamics know that pent-up emotions render ordinary rules of discourse as slippery as the proverbial banana peel. Route 66 director Keira Fromm and a brainy cast led by Mary Williamson and Meg Thalken as the garrulous Karla and laconic Marcie avoid the trap of playing for laughs to convey every hint of filial dynamic embedded in Feiffer's deceptively frivolous repartee. What is death, after all, but the biggest joke of all?"
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Williamson has long excelled at finding intriguing cracks in the demeanors of characters that tend toward snarky, sour and smart. Karla fits that profile, to be sure, but it's gratifying to see Williamson also get to play her breaking down under pressure and grief; her performance shows impressive range. Tovar is fine in a less richly drawn role that almost inevitably turns white-knight. It's mildly disappointing that Feiffer takes the two characters down Romcom Road-just once, it might be nice to see a middle-aged man and younger woman benefit from a platonic relationship-but that's no fault of this sharp cast or of Keira Fromm's warm production, which fully understands the meaning of laughing just to keep from crying."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...I have to say that the hardest part of writing this review is the space the title takes! Try to imagine the zaniness that had to go through the mind of its creator, playwright Halley Feiffer, as she wrote down “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Gynecological Oncology Unit At Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center Of New York City”! What a mouthful! But what a delightful piece of work."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...Halley Feiffer’s dark, sometimes disturbing, often racy and graphically sexual comedy, will at first seem like an unlikely way to spend an evening in the theatre. But given the chance, these characters will win over liberal-minded theatergoers with their blunt honesty and the determined way they attack life. Directed with truth and empathy, and featuring terrific performances by a quartet of talented actors, this production will provide an hour and a half of laughter and thoughtful reflection upon the human condition."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...This story is a journey paved with a high-volume laugh track that you find yourself supplying. The mother, the daughter, the son, the son’s son- each a variation of what common parlance refers to as “a piece of work”. With raucous witticisms piled so thick in this script, and so many references to the selfishness that plagues our species, we don’t anticipate sentiment at the story’s core. In a short space though, Feiffer’s script carries us from tasteless rape jokes to supersweet tenderness."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...It is hard to cause an audience to be buckled over in uproarious laughter one moment and teary-eyed and dry-throat the next. And yet, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City” does just that. Though Halley Feiffer’s script title is long, the show itself feels perfectly timed."
