Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Richard Greenberg (who wrote the coming-out baseball drama "Take Me Out") crafted the book for this show, and it hews fairly closely to the original film. Korie and Frankel's score — deftly rendered by a six-piece band under Chuck Larkin's direction — echoes some of the swoony feel of Elmer Bernstein's music from the film while offering up some sharp counterpoints, particularly harder-edged jazz interludes for Frank's assignations and a Miami nightclub number during a last-ditch, save-the-marriage vacation for Frank and Cathy."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Far from Heaven" has its moments, and its enduring themes of race, class, sex and hints of "Mad Men"-meets-"Transparent," carry a contemporary ring. But there is too much that is tone-deaf and forced about this show for it to fully pierce the heart."
Daily Herald - Recommended
"...Pairing lush lyricism with jazzy discord, the contemporary score by composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie (the duo behind "Grey Gardens") is a pleasant surprise. In fact it's one of the highlights of this often formulaic show about racial, sexual and gender repression that simmers when it should boil."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...In adapting Haynes's tale for the stage, Richard Greenberg, Michael Korie, and Scott Frankel take us a step away from Sirk-which means taking us a step away from what Haynes achieved. All that was subversive about the movie is merely imitative here, and the show flattens out into a conventionally liberal, less than believable tearjerker with a retro score. Summer Naomi Smart is quite literally too perfect as the housewife in this Porchlight Music Theatre staging. Worse, Evan Tyrone Martin's gardener is utterly nonsensical: a grown man who seems clueless about race."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...A Chicago premiere perfectly shaped by Rob Lindley, Porchlight Music Theatre's latest offering depicts a "disheveling world," as the embattled heroine puts it, where hope hurts hard. The bucolic locale is Hartford, Connecticut, good enough to start with, but the time is 1957 and love is limited. This show inhabits a world where "Nothing Happened" covers a ton of misery."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...It is possible that Frankel's music didn't come through at its full potential at the performance I attended because the speakers were placed in the audience's walk-way and were in sorry condition by the time the second act started. But his style is still a very particular taste which doesn't do a whole lot to elevate Far From Heaven's social issue soap-opera content, although playing it straight as melodrama may have been worse."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...There are many reasons to see Porchlight Music Theatre's Chicago area premier of Far From Heaven, but I'll cut right to the point and state upfront the number one reason to buy your tickets to this show running at Stage 773; Summer Naomi Smart. Smart plays the central character of Cathy Whitaker with such style and grace that it is truly a performance not to be missed."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Their current production, a Chicago Premiere by the way, is “Far From Heaven”, a musical version of the Award-winning motion picture. Richard Greenberg (who brought us “Take Me Out”, an amazingly strong coming-out story) has adapted this film to a musical play with the music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie. Unlike most musicals, this is for the most part, the telling of the story through musical phrasing versus songs you will be humming on the way home."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...For a relatively new musical that dares to tackle controversial issues like race relations, sexual identity, marriage infidelity and other moral issues, this offering by Porchlight Music Theatre continues their upward spiral toward excellence. Although the piece comes off at times like a soap opera, with an emphasis on “opera,” there are important issues at play here. It’s a look at America’s morals during the Golden Age of Eisenhower. Featuring an array of astounding musical talent this show is actualy closer to heaven than its title proclaims."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...The songs also bring a lighter take on the dark reality. Music Director Chuck Larkin flanks the audience in surround-sound with the orchestra in both side balconies. The music wraps the theatre in the emotion of the moment. To keep their world from falling apart, Smart and Springman sing a searing Secrets. Springman solos with a poignant If it hadn't been. Smart and Evan Tyrone Martin (Raymond) duet an inspirational The Only One. There is a genuine sweetness between Smart and Martin's sharing experiences of being outcasts in their own communities. Instead of a torrid, steamy affair, they have this intellectual connection of two soulmates."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Recommended
"...High quality theatrical and vocal performances from Smart, Springman and Martin are certainly the onstage take-aways here. The lovely Jeff Award-winning leading lady is at the pinnacle of Chicagoland musical theatre talent, and Smart’s depiction of Cathy is fluid, effortless and authentic throughout her emotional roller coaster ride. Springman as her husband Frank is similarly convincing, while Martin bolsters his already impressive resume with a truly standout performance."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...It is that very sensitivity, beautifully balanced with strokes of insecurity and deep pride, that made Far From Heaven such an unexpected delight. I will note that the musical itself, although only three years old, already has the dust marks of a future production forgotten, which is such a shame, for the show, although severely lacking in any sense of revolutionary comment to today's needs, does have the capacity and smartness necessary to be remarkable even so-which makes me even more grateful for Porchlight's decision to include it in their current season. And like the petals that fell to the ground by the show's end, thus indicating a new spring and the truth that there is still a life out there worth living, Porchlight shows every indication that this is a production worth performing and that they don't intend for you to leave your seat without knowing that."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...Porchlight's overall lovely production of FAR FROM HEAVEN both entertains and moves, and it comes at a moment when the musical's themes ring out loud and clear for audiences. And Smart's powerful take on Cathy is simply not-to-be-missed--she is divine in every way. Though Cathy feels burdened by the ceaseless pressure to conform to 1950s society, Smart does not let anything get in the way of her expert performance."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...But Haynes’ story belongs to the leading lady. Summer Naomi Smart, with her singular magic, disappears into this woman’s labyrinth while conquering the score’s vocal challenges so securely that the Moore/O’Hara imprint vanishes. Onstage for almost every moment of the piece, we watch her heart lift, explode, reconnect and begin to rebuild. Her ability to project hope ends the lesson."