Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Put a lot of dirty old blues songs together—and that’s basically what Randal Myler, the skilled creator of “Love, Janis” and “Hank Williams; Lost Highway” has done here, along with Dan Wheetman—and you end up with a show that’s not only a great deal of subversive fun but also a striking picture of back-room sexual rebellion, stoked long before any white bras hit the red flames. When Ruth Brown sang “If I can’t sell it, I’m gonna sit down on it,” nobody could doubt her determination not to give it away."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Set in a South Side Chicago blues bar, the 85-minute show unspools in nearly two dozen songs that move subtly from the raucous, sexually driven double entendre-style born in the roadside juke joints of the Delta to an aching, torchsong style blues to the deeply spiritual sound of a Sunday morning church congregation. Intriguingly, what starts out as "the devil's music" ends up on the mountaintop."
Pioneer Press - Highly Recommended
"...Welcome home Felicia P. Fields. Except for the brief stop "The Color Purple" made at the Arie Crown in 2009, it's been years since the vocal powerhouse graced a local stage with her show-stopping pipes. With Northlight Theatre's "Low Down Dirty Blues," Fields is in sassy fine form with a revue that showcases a quartet of blues greats backed by a tight, four-piece band."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...The band handles everything thrown at it, even if Victoria DeIorio's sound design often muffles and muddies the results and, under Wheetman's otherwise strong musical direction, guitarist James A. Perkins Jr. never does anything but strum. (Imagine a blues concert without a single guitar lick.) Above all, Mississippi Charles Bevel, Felicia Fields, Gregory Porter, and Sandra Reaves-Phillips perform with precision, nuance, poignancy, and exuberance. Despite their vocal prowess, none of them spends a moment showing off. Instead, they focus on putting across the humor, longing, and misery of the lyrics."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...The presentation of the show has an agreeably spontaneous feeling, thanks to the deft and unobtrusive directing by Randal Mylar. The ensemble sings the numbers in a variety of vocal combinations. Musical accompaniment comes from a talented trio seated at the rear of the stage. The blues club ambience is credibly established by Jack Magaw’s set, abetted by Rachel Laritz’s costume designs, Don Darnutzer’s lighting, and Victoria DeIorio’s sound."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...
the artists onstage, from the four featured singers to the three-piece band, are in such fine form that our reservations feel churlish. Fields, making her first hometown appearance after a four-year, Tony-nominated stint in The Color Purple, delivers a rendition of “Good Morning, Heartache” that’s worth the whole endeavor. The performers’ unassailable musicianship makes the show recommendable, even if our recommendation comes with a dramaturgical asterisk."
ShowBizChicago - Recommended
"...Created and helmed by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, the duo of “It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues” fame, “Low Down Dirty Blues” is the Skokie theatre’s most recent offering in lively songbook revues. Culled from a legion of stalwarts including Waters, Ma Rainey, Pearl Bailey and Sophie Tucker, the buoyant production achieves a dynamic often sorely omitted in its sibling ilk. Infused and agile in its eclectic tablature, “Low Down Dirty Blues” manages to ground its Delta melodies in an intermittent historical context, a framework that showcases its ditties as equal parts escapist entertainment and torch-song protest."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...The loneliness, that sexual urges and the pain of living the blues is honestly presented and sung here. “Good Morning Heartache,” “Lord, I Tried” and “Everyday I Have the Blues” each aptly describe the earthy feelings of this fabulous troupe of blues singers. Felicia P. Fields leads a fine group of blues folks here. I enjoyed this show immensely and so will you. Blues rules here!"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Between the marvelous music we glimpse the pain behind the notes as Fields’ singer regrets that, even after moving North, she’s “still on the plantation” as their work gets stolen and their recordings lack royalties. It doesn’t help that contemporary audiences have forgotten the blues’ pioneers and think it all began with the Blues Brothers. It didn’t and “Low Down Dirty Blues” proves why every wonderful chance it can."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...Under the musical direction of Dan Wheetman, the singing is sensational. Under the direction of Randal Myler, the performers share personal strife glimpses between songs. A lesson in blues history is mingled in with humor. There is a great joke about a Chicago’s tourist definition of blues. For a genre established in segregation, these blues aren’t your grandma’s depression. Low Down Dirty Blues is high up sexy fun!"