Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...L. Walter Stearns’ typically ambitious revival for the Porchlight Music Theatre reflects that situation precisely. The musical direction and many of the (mostly youthful) voices are stellar. The bits in between are mostly a drag."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Kristen Freilich (hilarious as the "easily assimilated" Old Lady), Sarah Hayes (as Paquette, the naughty maid) and Jeremy Rill (as Cunegonde's narcissistic brother) are standouts. But the entire ensemble is superb, and when their voices join in Bernstein's glorious, eclectic, supremely challenging score, they give you hope."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Porchlight Music Theatre's boisterous revival emphasizes broad, crude humor with an onslaught of sight gags and hammy shtick. Some jokes work, some don't, and L. Walter Stearns's staging ultimately fails to build the necessary comic momentum. This would be excusable if the musical values were strong. But from the painfully out-of-tune overture to the bombastic finale, the production substitutes stridence for subtlety, and the singers' strong voices often obscure their diction."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Porchlight musical director Eugene Dizon is on top of his game with incisive orchestral reductions for seven musicians who—placed stage center—participate in some of the action. By now, his players certainly will be past a few opening-night stumbles with Bernstein's chromatically and rhythmically difficult music. But their general excellence can't disguise that this is a symphonic score, some portions of which demand a thick orchestral sound seven players can't achieve."
Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended
"...Director L. Walter Stearns directs with enthusiastic grace and ingeniously incorporates the exquisite band conducted by Eugene Dizon into the proceedings. As Candide, Ryan Lanning is honey-voiced and winning. Caitlin Collins’ Cunegonde is exotically funny; she amazes with gymnastic vocalizing on “Glitter and Be Gay.” David Girolmo commands as an award-worthy Dr. Pangloss and is matched with flirty ferocity by Sarah Hayes’ Paquette. Kristen Freilich demands attention as The Old Lady; her humorous strength truly helps create a “Candide” that is simply the best of the best."
EpochTimes - Highly Recommended
"...I can tell you that this production, directed by L.Walter Stearns is BRILLIANT! The 95 minute version of this show that is presented in the round on a cleverly designed set by Kurt Sharp allows the musicians to not only be seen, but the members also take part in the handling of props adding a special touch. This is not the easiest of scores and musical director Eugene Dizon makes each note a meaningful experience as do the fine musicians under his leadership and the voices of the ensemble assembled to make this a work of art that should be seen by all."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...The Porchlight Music Theatre, never a troupe to shy away from a challenge, is reviving “Candide,” relying on the 1974 revision as its takeoff point. The book remains a difficulty, but nobody can fault the Porchlight’s creative staging, high energy, color, and strong singing."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...This exciting new environmental production of Leonard Bernstein's operatic treatment of Voltaire's classic satire of 18th-century optimism may be one of Chicago's "best of all possible musicals." You'd have to be made of stone not to laugh at the bawdy hilarity and cleverness of this production or be impressed by the sheer talent and musicality found in this streamlined, one-act version directed by L. Walter Stearns and Eugene Dizon. It is sheer magic."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...With no gaudy sets to distract the eye and with costume designer Bill Morey adding just the right level of self-aware cheekiness, Stearns’s staging relies only on his actors’ muscular silhouettes against black concrete walls; it’s a reverse-engineered look in the mold of Sam Mendes’s stripped-down Cabaret and the work of John Doyle, the intensely minimalist director responsible for the most recent Sondheim craze."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Having the musicians in the middle of the house surrounded by ramps with seating on all four sides added to the intimacy that underscored the humor and the magnificent music from Eugene Dizon’s six member orchestra. Bernstein’s score—featuring the famous ‘Overture,’ ‘Giltter and Be Gay’ and the emotional heart wrenching ‘Make Our Garden Grow’ caps off 90 minutes of thrilling theatre."
