Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...The other thing about McPherson's play is that the writing is incredibly beautiful. I hadn't see the play since about 2009 and I'd forgotten just how very beautiful — silly of me, really, since that adjective also was employed by Richard Christiansen in 1990, when "Marvin's Room" first opened in the Goodman Theatre's old studio space (and Frank Rich later said a version of the same thing when the play moved to New York). Christiansen kept going back. "Marvin's Room" really is that good."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...While it is not essential to know all this before heading to the exceptionally winning revival of the play now in a Shattered Globe Theatre production sensitively directed by Sandy Shinner, anyone watching the play's zany doctor's office scenes might well appreciate McPherson's blackly comic take on all things medical in a different way. Beyond that, by the time it's all over, McPherson's message about what really makes life worth living - being able to love people, even more than being loved oneself - will be all the more poignant. You also might well find yourself wondering about the plays McPherson never had the time to write."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Autobiography inevitably fades over time. Playgoers in 2015 do not concern themselves with whether Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata to impress a girl or Aphra Behn quarreled with her husband before penning The Rover. We may recall McPherson composing the play that would become his legacy while battling his own AIDS symptoms and those of his life partner, who would soon succumb to that then-fatal disease. However, audiences centuries hence will see only a warm-hearted parable of confronting mortality with courage, serenity and-yes, humor-surrounded by the unconditional love of loyal companions."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...The confluence of circumstances can feel contrived and fairly precious-the climactic action takes place on a family trip to Walt Disney World. McPherson was writing soap opera, and he didn't mind underlining it himself, with frequent references to the over-the-top events on Ruth's favorite "program." But it's important to remember, as director Sandy Shinner and a mostly strong cast remind us, that soap is instrumental to good health."
Theatre By Numbers - Recommended
"..."Marvin's Room" is a reach across a new generational divide of theatergoers, and may be important viewing for a generation of millennial with no idea how close they are to an un-connected and slower-paced era."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...The question is whether Marvin's Room still works now that that particular crises has passed, and the play's name is once again more popularly associated with Marvin Gaye's studio and the song Drake recorded there. The answer is that Shinner has indeed made the play successful, by emphasizing the humor of the piece, with the help of a brilliant cast."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This is a production that Scott McPherson would’ve been proud of. Hats off to Shattered Globe for resurrecting this wonderful play that, 25 years later, is every bit as relevant and powerful today as when it was written. People still get sick and require assistance, siblings continue to quarrel but eventually find common ground to reunite once more. But, most of all, it’s the humanity, patience and empathy, despite all our technical advancements, that keep our world spinning round. Love and respect are all we require and, hopefully, those things will never change."
