Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...As he continues to work on celebrating the brothers he clearly loves, Echoles should try to find a sharper separation between the backstage travails involving cheap producers and demanding lovers and the eye-popping performances themselves. Like so many artistic geniuses, the Nicholas Brothers could turn a stage into such a playground for themselves that the world in the wings always struggled to compare."
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Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...With musical direction by Robert Reddrick, the vocal sequences (with songs by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Sammy Cahn, and Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen) are performed by a variety of personalities. A very funny turn by a young Michael Jackson (Michael Bartlett is an absolute hoot as he sings “Shake Your Body Down to the Ground”) suggests the enduring influence of the Nicholas Brothers."
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Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Excursions into biography drag a little--people marry, divorce, die--but the musical numbers are worth waiting for. Jackie Taylor's staging soars when the performers are singing and/or hoofing to classic songs like "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" and "Jumpin' Jive," well played by an eight-piece band."
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Windy City Times - Highly Recommended

"...Author-choreographer Echoles himself plays the impulsive younger brother Harold Nicholas, flanked by Rashawn Thompson's prudent elder brother Fayard. Donald Barnes and Dawn Bless lend a dignified presence to the Nicholas parents, as do Melanie McCullough and Kylah Williams, playing the respective Mesdames Nicholas ( Mrs. Harold, a.k.a. Dorothy Dandridge, enjoying stardom in her own right ) . Add a protean chorus brimming over with enthusiastic glee ( props to Daryl Brooks' spot-on Cab Calloway impression ) and a band armed with a brass section hot enough to sizzle and what you get is invigorating entertainment to dispel any trace of lingering early-spring gloom."
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Copley News Service - Recommended

"...The production benefits from a spot-on portrayal of Cab Calloway by Daryl Brooks, who led the show’s best musical number, “Jumpin’ Jive.” There is also good work by Dawn Bless as Viola Nicholas and Melanie McCullough as Fayard’s wife, Geri, among others."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"... Dorothy Dandridge (Kylah Williams), the only character with real emotional depth, drops in as Harold’s first wife and, as the first African-American nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, offers a too-rare glimpse into the racial pressures that dogged the Nicholases’ long lives. The second act features a showstopper with another amazing sibling act that was influenced by the Nicholas Brothers (fantastic Afro wigs are involved). But without solid grounding, the show, unlike the duo, can’t amount to more than the sum of its parts."
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ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...Lovers of swing, big bands and tap dancing will enjoy My Brother’s Keeper. Black Ensemble Theater finally has a first rate dance show thanks to the talented Rueben Echoles and the youthful emerging talent of RaShawn Thompson. These two tap, jump and do the splits in an ode to the fabulous Nicholas brothers. This show is fun."
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Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended

"...Through their tremendous talent, the brothers broke other color barriers, and had an enormously successful career that took them to Hollywood and overseas. Their personal lives were stormy, however. Fayard’s marriage fell apart when his wife (Melanie McCullough) tired of playing second fiddle to his brother, his dancing and — not mentioned in this show — his philandering. Harold married actress Dorothy Dandridge (an evocative performance by Kylah Williams), but the marriage, troubled from the outset, foundered after their daughter was born with brain damage."

Chicago Stage Standard - Highly Recommended

"...In this production we go from the 30's to 1977 and learn that Fayard continued doing his thing until he passed away just 5 years ago.  These were legends that have inspired many of today's dancers including Mr. Echoles, who evidently has taken his history lesson to a new extreme by writing the story so we can all share in this historical look at these icons of tap.  Those of you who have attended Black Ensemble Theater productions know that they stay very close to the facts in telling their stories and use some of the original music that the performers were noted for."