Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...The premise is weird but, to my mind, perfectly workable. Snider narrates, a la "Rocky Horror." A loser, cute dweeb-filled, neo-metal band named Daisy Cuter (a running gag, funny the first but not the eighth time, has the band really being called Daisy Cutter, only its name was misspelled) is on the skids at Christmastide. Fine. Many a holiday show starts there. The band, which plays a basement venue to an audience of one drunk (played by William McGough), and who want only to move to the posh club upstairs (Keely Vasquez plays the owner of both) find themselves singing rock versions of carols instead of the numbers they intend to sing. Cute but tip-free waitresses are shocked."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...The joke here is that this story is the flip side of the actual Twisted Sister story, that band full of guys from New York and New Jersey (‘punks who could sing”) who found mega-success in the 1970s and early ’80s. If someone had told them then that they’d be the inspiration for this silly (and ultimately sentimental) show they might have disguised themselves as Tom Jones."
Chicago Reader - Not Recommended
"...It might've made for a strong ten minutes in an off-Loop sketch revue. But what we've got here isn't a sketch. It's a cheesy 90-minute pseudo-spectacle, poorly thought out and sloppily executed in a production that screams, Undercapitalized! Snider appears, mostly as the narrator, doing lead-ins like, "They would soon find out," and the score mixes his signature tunes with rocked-up Christmas standards. You'd have to be a real Twisted Sister fanatic to get any pleasure out of this, and I don't know any."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Composer Snider appears onstage in the dual roles of the Narrator and an exorcist forced to switch liturgical sides, leading an exuberant young cast whom he assures us all play their own instruments. A subplot involving the Cutter drummer's unspoken crush on the club boss-lady provides opportunities for a quiet ballad ( and send-up of tutu-fantasy dream sequences ), as does the pep-talk prompted by D.D.'s existential crisis—both sung with steely sweetness by Keely Vasquez. The 90-minute text could still use some tweaking to make every word count, but a script needing only one rewrite and an ensemble needing only to lose their big-budget press-night jitters is already well on its way to becoming a welcome compromise in the sugar vs. snark holiday entertainment wars."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Snider's script has its charms both clever and cornball, with its mix of rock in-jokes and Dad Jokes. The four actors who make up Däisy Cütter—Michaels, Dan Peters, Tommy Hahn and Wilam Tarris, endearing as the new-guy drummer—display solid musicianship, and the costumes, designed by Snider's wife Suzette, are pitch-perfect pastiches of oversharing Spandex for the guys and ultra-miniskirts and improbable heels for the ladies (Keely Vasquez as the club owner and love interest for dorky drummer Taris, and Christina Nieves and Taylor Yacktman as a pair of flesh-and-blood video vixens)."
ShowBizChicago - Highly Recommended
"...The experience that Dee Snider, has created here is one that should be cherished through the ages! And I feel will be. Especially if he turns it into a Claymation TV Special, it’s a perfect fit. Just saying, dude. Horns up!"
Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Is this a great theater experience? No, I cannot say that it is. I can say that you will have fun and you will have some laughs, but of greater importance, if you loved Snider in the old days, you will adore his Twisted Sister personality and high energy today. You will also enjoy the musical numbers as handled by these performers and a new twist of “We’re Not Going To Take It!”."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...What happens when four guys from failed bands join together, make a deal with the devil and pledge their souls to Satan in order to find fame and fortune? When it takes place in a show entitled “Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale,” it’s safe to guess that the result will be something a little… twisted, perhaps. Directed by Adam John Hunter, who also staged the national tours of “Sweeney Todd” and “Rock of Ages,” this world premiere is a family-friendly Christmas rockfest."
