Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Chuck Spencer's Willy is a phony-baloney too squeamish to face reality head-on. "You're a joke," someone tells him, like a punch to the gut. "I'm still feeling kind of temporary about my life," he says, and if that doesn't touch a nerve, you're made of stronger stuff than I am."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"... JoAnn Montemurro matches Spencer's grace and power as Willy's long-suffering wife, and so do Jason Huysman and Greg Caldwell as his two sons, Biff and Happy. This is one of those productions where every element--Andrei Onegin's beautiful set, Amy Lee's evocative lighting, Leif Olsen's original score--contributes to a flawless whole."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Andrei Onegin's scenic design and Michael Tutaj's score of wistful incidental music keep our universe firmly established in our hero's subjective perception, allowing for a fluidity of movement facilitating Chuck Spencer's vigorous performance as an angry Willy Loman overwhelmed by disillusionment, regret and, ultimately, despair. You may have seen this American classic staged before, and will probably do so again, but never will it haunt you like this timely lesson for a restless society."
Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended
"...in Raven Theatre’s simple and powerful production of Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” equal focus is wisely given to the character of Loman’sson, Biff. While, previous powerful performances (Dustin Hoffman and Brian Dennehy in recent years) have rightly placed the focus on Willie Loman’s failing fantasies in his final days—here director Michael Menendian and transcendent actor Jason Huysman create a calibrated force centering around Biff’s eventual realization of his own self—one that places a firm wedge between him and his family’s lifelong devotion to supporting Willy’s extravagant fantasies."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...The Raven Theatre revival of “Death of a Salesman” is a reminder of just how good a play this is. And the production has enough creative touches to freshen the viewer’s exposure to the Arthur Miller classic, no matter how familiar it might seem."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...Can one play redeem the virtue of a nation? If it's possible, that play would be Arthur Miller's masterpiece about a family strangled by its own lies. In fact, after seeing the Raven Theatre production, you may think twice before ever straying from the truth again."
Chicagoist - Highly Recommended
"...There is a reason we read certain plays in high school. Sure, they’ve been done countless times across the country, occasionally in god-awful productions. Their plot summaries are all over the internet, and they can be a little boring to read. But sometime, somewhere, those words came to life onstage and changed the landscape of American culture. So before you groan that Death of a Salesman is at Raven Theatre for its second time, you should really go see it."
Edge - Highly Recommended
"...By the time the emotionally draining (in the best possible way) production of Raven Theatre’s Death of a Salesman, lowers the curtain, it is a wonder that lead Chuck Spencer, playing the titular role of psychologically scarred salesman Willy Loman, doesn’t simply collapse backstage with exhaustion. Giving new meaning to the term "leaving it all out there," Spencer turns himself inside out in order to give audience members a transcendent experience of grief and disappointment. These efforts are so successful, and in turn so highly rewarded, that the sound of sniffles and coughs was as audible as applause when the cast came back to the stage to take their bows."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...This carefully constructed masterpiece flows beautifully as the emotional impact and dramatic tensions build through Spencer and Huysman deft performances. Even though I’ve seen (and read) Death of a Salesman several times, I’m always choked-up at the end. The entire audience at Raven Theatre was deeply moved by this wonderful production. Raven Theatre once again proves that they sure know how to mount classic American theatre. This is a wonderful moving production of a classic, don’t miss it!"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Every detail has been carefully examined and brought to the production, including the Fight Choreography by David Woolley, Lighting by Amy Lee, an original score by Leif Olsen that truly adds to the mood that has been created by Menendian, Sound and video by Mike Tutaj and props by Mary O'Dowd. One can see the heart and soul of each of the tech people as well as the actors in bringing this production to the viewing audience. They are all to be commended for putting before us a piece of art. Miller's painting brought to life as the exploration of the dream of a salesman!"
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...In writing Salesman, Miller wanted to toss out the Aristotelian notion that tragedy could only involve kings and royalty (Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear). He shows us through Willy Loman that even the middle-class can have tragic flaws. Instead of a vast kingdom, however, it is single household that is torn asunder. And just like we can be moved by Euripides and Shakespeare today, Raven’s crushing production verifies that Miller’s opus is still terrifyingly resonant."
