Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Led by preternaturally seductive Nathan Maurice Cooper as Puck, Van Barham's cunning 12-person cast find unlikely profundity in radio-friendly tunes (who knew Britney Spears's "Toxic" could be heartbreaking?). The show, produced by Pride Films & Plays, is hampered by a convoluted narrative that never makes adequate sense, and given how successful the evening's least linear scenes are-as when each of the four lovers delivers a monologue divorced from time-it might benefit from more strangeness and less story."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Bite offers an eclectic mix of 17 pop songs in 90 minutes, among them hits recorded by Adam Lambert, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Rufus Wainwright and even Mama Cass. Some are sung live, some lip-synced and others sung over the original recordings. The dozen performers are strong-voiced and passionate. The choreography by Van Barham and Christopher Young is far better than necessary, adding greatly to the lively show. Bite begins silly and shallow but deepens through the appropriate, varied music selected by Van Barham and music director Jeff Bouthiette."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...For audiences who like their summer entertainment hot and steamy, with more than a touch of magic and mindless mayhem, this is the perfect show. Shrewdly adapted and directed with wit and wonder by Derek Van Barham, this tantalizing, 85-minute cabaret is near perfection. Flashy, trashy and performed with energetic elance, this highly entertaining musical revue, laced with adult humor, revisits the universal themes of Shakespeare's most popular comedy and takes a Bite out of the Midsummer Night."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended
"...Though the music and mise-en-scène may gear toward the current generation, the message is universal and is wrapped up in a package that is honest without being cynical, sweet without being saccharine, and celebratory in its inclusiveness."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Camp in the best way, BITE offers queer audiences a world of their own, where nature is femme, gender is fluid and giggling, and where gossip and glitter is required. Van Barham presents queer love and kinship as complicated, sometimes tenuous, but open, accepting and free. Queer love is elevated and heightened by ritual and celebration, and introspection is prized above ego. However, despite this rosy tint, there are a few moments where one might look around and wonder why everyone is laughing. Flashes of what may be bi-phobia and trans-misogyny interrupt an otherwise happy fête, stereotypes and weird genital humor reminding us that ignorance can bury itself inside anyone."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Does the fairy make the magic or does the magic make the fairy That's the question the audience tries to answer in Pride Films & Plays' "BITE: A Pucking Queer Cabaret." Directed and adapted by Derek Van Barham from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the show teems with power (fairy dust, perhaps?) through solid direction, performance, choreography, music and costume."
