Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...There are some scenes, and some individual performances, in this ensemble-driven production that capture that key to the Eno kingdom and thus are profoundly wonderful. There is a simple scene between Jones' doctor and Thornton's troubled, street bum of a mechanic that is little more than two people in opposite places in life coming to a kind of mutual regard. But it's beautiful and deeply moving. Jones and Thornton get it, and so do Letts and Lavey. The former has a climactic hospital scene that switches from comedy to pain with shuddering rapidity; the latter has a way of cutting to the chase through Eno's wash of images and ideas."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Eno’s characters ponder life’s mysteries while the universe bursts around them. The inhabitants of Middletown share many of life’s hopes and problems but there is one — loneliness — that rises above the others. Nearly all of the characters in “Middletown” are searching for, but not quite attaining, that human connection essential to us all."
Examiner - Somewhat Recommended
"...Under Les Waters direction, Middletown is like Our Town reformulated by a rhetorician in love with the sound of his own deconstructive stylings. After a first act riddled with oddball conversations wherein pseudo-profundities lurch forth from the chattering of everyday banality, Middletown’s second act brings out the heavy artillery. In case you don’t get the less-than-revelatory death-is-part-of-life theme pounded into the dialogue with all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer wielding 500-pound gorilla, Eno includes a scene wherein somebody actually dies alongside somebody who has just been born. And just in case the paradoxical presence of death in life and life in death still doesn’t properly register, Eno has the stork and the scythe visiting people who are literally laying in adjacent rooms on stage. Sunrise, sunset, nants ingonyama bagithi baba, que sera sera. It’s like being mugged by Captain Obvious."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Playgoers recalling the production of Eno's The Flu Season in 2009 will attest to the quirky charm associated with close—really close—scrutiny of discourse we too often take for granted. Director Les Waters tries to bridge the aesthetic distance by means of devices lifted straight from his text's 1938 prototype, but ultimately, we are left with a concert for chamber orchestra diluted by an arena better suited to brass bands."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...The feeling and impressions left by Middletown, much of which communicate great loneliness, are certain to resonate at times for most of us. At the same time, though, Eno shows a basic decency in his characters that can suggest all is not without hope or value. Middletown is a funny and haunting play that should spark debate and reflection among its audiences for some time after viewing it."
Centerstage - Recommended
"...At one point the handyman remarks to the housewife that he uses humor to distance himself from pain. And that seems to be what Eno is constantly attempting here. The humorous interludes, meta-observations and sometimes ridiculous wordplay are all serving to distract, to inject a sense of fun and playfulness into the proceedings. Without them we’d be left with a two-act rumination on how lonely life can be and the sheer magnitude of its meaninglessness. The juxtaposition of comedy and despair doesn’t always work, but when it does (most often when Letts or Thornton are involved) it takes you by surprise. There are few moments here that will floor you in your seat but there are plenty that will stick with you for several days afterwards."
Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended
"...Middletown is humorously pragmatic and splendidly surreal. It is a singular feast of thought and imagination. It is a tender, tragic and resplendent triumph of thought. It is a theatrical event horizon; a point of no return in altered perspectives and emotions where we are all the better for having found ourselves lost in."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Most of Middletown’s residents, it seems, are lonely. Through the first three-quarters of Eno’s script, they’re identified only by their occupations: Cop (Danny McCarthy), Librarian (Martha Lavey), Mechanic (Michael Patrick Thornton), Female Doctor (Ora Jones). Suddenly, there’s a shift; Eno’s characters begin addressing each other by names, and you sense the members of this outstanding ensemble instantly adding facets to their portrayals by dint of their human connections to others. Not everyone will go for Eno’s quippy, epigrammatic approach. But if you’re down with exploring the middle without necessarily reaching an end, you’ve found your place."
Chicago Theatre Addict - Recommended
"...While this wasn’t my favorite play, Eno’s writing is constantly thought-provoking and the acting is nuanced and touching, showcasing Steppenwolf’s tight ensemble work."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Stay with Middletown’s slow early pacing as it all comes together and delivers a provocative and insightful look into the angst of universal loneliness we all experience since we enter the world alone and we leave it alone- the rest of our existence is life’s middle area. Act Two of Middleton vividly demonstrates that dichotomy. The struggle to find meaning and purpose in the middle of a life cycle looms strong in this intelligent work. There is much more to seemingly light, almost whimsical, drama that necessitates our full attention. There are profound messages here worth contemplating. Middletown is an artful theatrical experience."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Somewhat Recommended
"...Once again Steppenwolf spends a fortune to allow its audieces to watch losers lose, their favorite spectator sport. Yes, Eno argues epigrammatically, supposedly ordinary people in a demographically dull dump like Middletown are far more complex than they seem-- even as they perversely ignore the wonders around them. But “Our Town” was just that—the place where Americans find their dreams enacted and critiqued—and Middletown, alas, is just their town."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Somewhat Recommended
"...MIDDLETOWN is less like "Our Town" and more like my hometown Elkhart. It has interesting folks stuck in a place going nowhere. Sure, there are amusing moments but I wouldn't want to live there. So, I don't!"
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...We, the audience , are required to pay close attention to stay with these characters and while there are several comic touches, this play is not “funny”, but indeed, a very sad look at people and how they live their lives. In fact, the first act ends with a goup of theater goers discussing the first act and what they saw and felt. Confused? Don’t be. Just listen to the words that have been written to convey this story about people and their individual lives. We have all heard the saying that “the grass is always greener on the other side” meaning that what we see from afar looks to be perfection, andwe want it. The problem is, when we get there, it is just what we had in another place. I will not tell you the end of this strong production, but will tell you that we do get to bear witness to a portion of the “life cycle” and that you will want to participate in the discussions that take place after the performance."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...While Middletown may not quite enter the American dramatic canon, Eno has unearthed some magnificent insights through language. His words are ultimately stronger than his dramatic structure, but he is so gifted in dialogue that there is never a lack of opportunity to ponder the significance of each word chosen. One of the highest compliments I can give Eno’s script, and this production, is that I walked out of the theatre with a greater sense of just how awesome the mystery of existence is, and just how simple and ordinary the thought is. People have written about such things before Eno, and people surely will in the future, but here we are in the middle with a near perfect thought-provoking play for the summer of 2011 crafted with great care by Waters and this Steppenwolf company."
