Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...It's just never really midnight in this show. It's not quite happy hour, but let's just say that the two-for-one drinks don't seem to have left the building, extracting their price from the lost souls, pinballs in the big city."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...I haven't read the book (and haven't seen the movie in years, though I still have vivid memories of Dustin Hoffman checking the now extinct pay-phone booths that lined Manhattan's streets, in search of forgotten coins). But watching Lifeline's uneven production, with its strange lack of a genuine New York aura (this story is, after all, set in the period when Times Square was truly sleazy), the only conclusion to be reached is that it is meant to be a far more expressionistic story than the movie."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Zach Livingston has his strong moments as Joe, as does Adam Marcantoni as Ratso (though he seems awfully clean for a man living inches from the street). But the really vivid performances belong to supporting cast members-particularly Megan DeLay, Peter Blashill, Jack Miggins, and Heather Smith-in multiple roles."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Director Christopher M. Walsh's fluid staging utilizes Joe Schermoly's unit set, which places the action via illuminated signs-bar, cafe, movie marquee, etc. Chris Hainsworth's pithy adaptation avoids narration and is all action, retaining the novel's ironic Biblical injunctions ( newcomer Gregory Madden is bible-thumping pimp O'Daniel ). However, by spending more time on Joe's pre-New York backstory, it doesn't develop the Joe-Ratso relationship as deeply as the film, which I missed. Rather, this staging rises or falls on sympathy for Joe, the not-very-bright, uncultured, emotionally damaged man-child with a heart of gold, who realizes his failure even as a stud. Ultimately, it won me over. Ratso is lucky: he dies. The tragedy is Joe's-a beautiful, utterly alone, wounded animal who must go on, somehow. The emotional story is about Joe Buck; the intellectual story is about sexual exploitation, which continues today in myriad ways and places, making Midnight Cowboy contemporary and ageless."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...Despite this adaptation's flaws, there are good things about it. Livingston and Marcantoni are quite appealing actors, and having Joe Buck before you in the flesh does produce a much more visceral effect than seeing him in a movie. He's more vulnerable like this. Sarah Espinoza's sound design gives Blashill pleasant and poignant country songs to play on his guitar, much like the movie's soundtrack. The final scene is moving, and Rizzo's gruff mother-hen attitude stands out from the cruelty and indifference of the other characters. People who have read the book will probably also have a much easier time following the action and understanding what is intended with each character. But on its own, this adaptation is wobbly, and the choices in production don't help illuminate the script."
Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...This is one that is difficult to rate. Lifeline Theatre does a great job of adapting novels to stage, but they have selected a story that is pretty well known in "Midnight Cowboy". Most of us, at least those of my generation, are familiar with the film that tells the story. The book written by James Leo Herlihy was made into this Award-Winning film starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, who were on their way to becoming stars. This was back in the mid-1960's. I have heard that other theater companies have attempted to do likewise but I for one have never seen any stage rendition of this film/book until Chris Hainsworth's World Premiere that is now on the stage at Lifeline Theatre in Rogers Park. The actors would be rated higher. The show itself just did not do it for me!"
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...Lifeline is a theatre company dedicated to adapting page to stage in excellence. I’m always entertained by the heart and humor that inevitable seeps in to every production. Hainsworth and Walsh, in particular, are often a hilarious comic pairing onstage. MIDNIGHT COWBOY is maybe the darkest play I’ve experienced at Lifeline. The loneliness, the cruelty, the sadness stings. The bittersweet ending definitely leaves a mark. After seeing it last night, I still feel bruised today."
Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended
"...As fresh-faced as they come, Livingston is deft at portraying an outwardly awkward, shy man prone to tantrum-like outbursts of anger driven more by confusion than malicious intent. He has to be both empathetic and detestable and succeeds at both. Marcantoni takes the role that made Hoffman a two-hit wonder and makes it his own, bursting with nervous energy and sycophantic awe. They craft a believable chemistry as a dark addition to the American odd couple tradition. Unfortunately a large part of the first act contains a miscast Jack Miggins as Perry, who doesn’t project the right tone of world-weary ennui and menace necessary for one of Joe’s first instructors in the world of dominating a "client.""
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Hainsworth's fluid script repeatedly jumps back and forth through time and space-something the production never gets a handle on. Where it should melt and dissolve from one scene to another, it instead stops, jerks and shudders back to life. Likewise, the ethereally modern sound design does nothing to ground the play in its sixties-era setting. The play feints toward live guitar accompaniment early on but doesn't follow through. The production's evocation of New York feels too "West Side Story" for a tale of such desperation and grit."
