Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...It's not that Henry Godinez's production lacks talent. On the contrary. Clinger's self-examining Lincoln, Derek Hasenstab's nervous Booth and Scrofano's troubled Mary Todd Lincoln are all rich characterizations — and fine singers like Jones, Fields and David Girolmo all add to the musical tapestry. The show is well-meaning, and there is plenty here to enjoy."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...But neither Dickens nor Doctorow need worry. Apart from a few finely limned scenes and songs, “A Civil War Christmas,” stiffly directed by Henry Godinez, rarely rises above a grade school pageant. Even the music — a collage of Civil War-era songs, Christmas carols and spirituals — feels more frustrating than satisfying as nearly all are delivered in fragmentary form. All this despite solid musical direction by Chuck Larkin and the presence of veteran performers such as Paul Scrofano (as the manic-depressive Mary Todd Lincoln) and Felicia P. Fields (who serves as the troubled, shopaholic first lady’s devoted companion-seamstress, and as head of a slave safe house."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...The narrative is festooned with period songs and covers a lot of territory, but mainly focuses on a runaway slave child who's equated with the baby Jesus. The message has to do with acknowledging the "divine spark" in everyone. For all her expansiveness, though, Vogel can't let the poor Jew be. In his delirium Levy confuses Walt Whitman with Saint Nicholas and is consoled by the notion that he's being watched over by a figure out of Christian folklore. Then he's obliged to die--to the strains of a yiddishe fiddle, as if he were Tevye--so as not to muddle the big, Christmas-extolling final number with his presence. Other than that, it's a good show."
Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...But who cares if this Northlight production serves up enough holiday-mandated sentimentality to make It's A Wonderful Life look like Naughty And Naughtier? Vogel's overdecorated tree has individual moments to please every demographic, and the presence in the cast of such local favorites as Felicia P. Fields and Paula Scrofano, flanked by sturdy supporting players and a children's chorus, warbling a score of public-domain ballads provides a wholesome, if innocuous, alternative for audiences reluctant to brave the downtown crowds in their search for yuletide cheer."
Copley News Service - Recommended
"... Some of the nonmusical action is dramatic and some humorous. In one tense episode the unsuspecting Lincoln luckily escapes capture in Washington by Booth and two Southern sympathizers. A New England Quaker steadfastly and comically hews to his nonviolent principles in spite of humiliating depredations inflicted on him by Southern soldiers."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Audiences searching for an alternative holiday musical will especially enjoy and appreciate Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel’s latest play. Her epic drama, set on Christmas Eve in 1864 Washington D.C., tells the stories of more than a dozen characters whose lives eventually merge by the final curtain. Historic figures, such as Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Walt Whitman, Clara Barton and others mingle with a young runaway slave and other fictional characters. Beautifully sung, the stories are enriched by the carols, hymns and folk music of the time."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...The message of communal hope and reconciliation comes across here and the musical moments sounded fine. Too bad there wasn’t more songs and less stories. Still, A Civil War Christmas carries a nice message."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Renowned playwright Paula Vogel packages a complex gift for the holidays. The name alone impregnates our minds with distinct images. This is a piece that has been in the makings since Christmas in the late 1800’s but just penned over a century later. To put a singular plot line wouldn’t even be close to the occurrences lived in this work. "
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Director, Henry Godinez, has framed this story to tell all the stories of the people in this time of our history. The war and the trauma that it left behind for our country. In fact, there are Southerners who still think the war is going on. Ms. Vogel has studied the era and has penned her characters as she sees them. How African Americans moved into mainstream society , or didn’t. How people change as the need arises and how we as a country changed from the experience. This is a play that may not be factual and that true historians might feel is sheer lunacy, but I found it to be entertaining and even I may have picked up a new slant on the events of the time. I have always found Godinez to be a true artists and in the past have sat in during early rehearsals of one of his shows. He allows the actors to help him paint the portrait of their characters and does so to make the entire production a memorable experience for his audience. Once again, he hits the nail on the head!"
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Director Henry Godinez and a superb cast of Chicago pros and young acolytes work like plow horses to shape and sort out this A.D.D. plethora of multiple narratives and messages. But it still helps if you’re a Civil War buff specializing in the winter of 1864. The point beyond the plots is a strong one. As Vogel says, in 2010 as well as 146 years ago, community values count just as much or more than family values. But if manufacturing feel-good resolutions and ignoring the horrible context of a fratricidal national insurrection is the way to preach that gospel, I’m not a believer. But the ballads, like the exquisite “Yellow Rose of Texas,” are glorious stuff. This show sings far more powerfully and persuasively than it speaks."
