Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...It’s not easy to put your finger on why this production doesn’t really work, except that when a comedy, interpreted as a high, mid-20th Century farce, isn’t exactly sending a cascade of belly-laughs through the theater, it’s failing in its most fundamental obligation. The Remy Bumppo cast—which contains the distinguished likes of Joe Dempsey, Nick Sandys and Mary Beth Fisher—is a classy crew. The production values are tippy-top. And everyone nearly blows a gasket trying to make this overly nervous show work, which perhaps contains a clue as to why it does not."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...What you will hear is this: A verbally sassy twist on Beaumarchais' play as devised by Ranjit Bolt, the British adapter-translator. Unfortunately, his attempt to modernize the play by setting it in 1950s France not only fails to illuminate the original work in any meaningful way but reduces it to little more than the most traditional of marital (and, of course, extramarital) farces. In his quest to update the play, Bolt might have fared far better had he planted it closer to his own home."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...As played with deadly seriousness by Greg Matthew Anderson and Mary Beth Fisher, the white-hot scene shows just how good Jonathan Berry's Remy Bumppo Theatre Company production could be if he kept his actors focused on the characters' stakes. But too often Berry has his cast play big and screwy rather than true--right down to the dancing hipster servants executing protracted set changes. The result: what should be a giddy tale of sexual hypocrisy collapses under the effort to make it funny."
Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Jonathan Berry has assembled a highly skilled and attractive cast for this fast farce rendition of Beaumarchais's famous comedy, first produced in 1784 and basis for the even more famous Mozart-Da Ponte opera. However, the original play was more comedy of manners than farce and, unlike its predecessor, The Barber of Seville, it also had a significant political edge which this adaptation by Ranjit Bolt dulls. Bolt eliminates significant characters and a major subplot satirizing the French legal system."
EpochTimes - Recommended
"...Produced by Remy Bumppo Think Theatre, this is a sparkling production re-telling this sexy, telling story that involves sexual games, mistaken identities, perfect comic timing and lots of innuendos. Farce is hard to do because it truly must have perfect timing. I am sure that as this production continues its run, they will get even sharper than the production I viewed. That is the nature of the beast- it gets tighter and therefore stronger as the actors continue to perfect every little move, glance, gesture and line."
Copley News Service - Somewhat Recommended
"...The Beaumarchais comedy is rarely staged today, with the Mozart adaptation firmly in control of the field. Nothing in the Remy Bumppo Theatre revival of the play suggests that the situation should be otherwise. Based on what’s presented on the Remy Bumppo stage, King Louis XVI must have been thin skinned indeed to take umbrage at this inane bit of low comedy."
Edge - Recommended
"...The Remy Bumppo Theatre version of the venerable Beaumarchais farce, The Marriage of Figaro is fanciful, fast, funny and, yes, farcical. But also quite thoughtful at a deeper level."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Sandys makes stylized hay of the title role, and Cares and Fisher sparkle as the leading ladies. Anderson, as randy page Cherubin, gives a standout supporting performance, the most precisely hilarious here. But it’s Dempsey’s loose virtuosity, deadpan instincts and number-one idiot shtick as the Count that hold everything together."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...The Marriage of Figaro is a polished, light weight classical farce that will tickle your funny bone as well as appear to your love of a thrilling theatrical production. Remy Bumppo continues their excellent productions. This show will make you laugh while you admire the performances."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Not Recommended
"..."Devotion has its drawbacks," the Count informs us, "It gets tedious after a while." Alas, so does that age-old art form known as farce. In fact, tedium sets in pretty early in Ranjit Bolt's crude translation of the classic French farce "The Marriage of Figaro". Director Jonathan Berry's solution is to play it off as a silly, slick cartoon. Unfortunately, Berry's choice to set Beaumarchais' 18th Century play in a mod mid-20th Century sitcom environment robs the farce of its inherent elegance. The result is far from Remy Bumppo "think" Theatre's finest hour."
