Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...The script, of course, like all of Albee's scripts, reeks of minimalism and tight authorial controlled. Newell, whose staging is emotionally centered and hopelessly direct and needy, loosens Albee up but simultaneously ensures his noose says around his audience's throat. And there's one truly killer moment -- when the show brings us to the realization that however much we fight with our family members, we always want to see them again on our deathbeds, even as we profess the opposite."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Maura Kidwell is the naive 26-year-old, full of hope for a happy future; Mary Beth Fisher, the 52-year-old who expresses her disillusion in ironic humor and blistering rages; and Jessica Tandy look-alike Lois Markle, the 91-year-old facing death with serene wisdom even as she struggles to recall her past. Under Charles Newell's direction, the actors negotiate Albee's beautifully written dialogue like virtuosic chamber musicians. A finely detailed, thought-provoking, sometimes breathtaking production."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...Three Tall Women is singular Albee. Perhaps he has exorcized some demons with his understanding and insightful drama. He certainly has given his audiences a rich and revealing playgoing experience."
Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended
"...Three Tall Women is a devastating example of why Albee is more than just an iconic American playwright, but more so an unflinching chronicler of the darkest sides of the human condition. This transfixing production is an example of why Court Theatre is one of the most intelligent companies producing theater in the country. Do Not Miss this startling and spellbinding theatrical accomplishment!"
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...
Three Tall Women is a showcase for actresses, and Newell has assembled a striking trio for Court’s production. Above all, the veteran Markle wields formidable craft, veering between sour peevishness and a stunned, lost searching through the flotsam of her life. Intermittent realizations pass across her face like weather patterns. Fisher’s work seems informed by her two bravura roles of last year: Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking and Arkadina in The Seagull. She blends the former’s sense of mortality and the latter’s dazzling narcissism to build a haunting portrait of a woman hurtling toward the future she dreads. Court newcomer Kidwell has a brittle tone, but she gamely holds up her end as she plays the younger foil to her masterful castmates. Together, they weave a captivating, disquieting take on this brilliantly perspectival piece."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Three Tall Women, I believe, is Albee’s finest play and Charlie Newell’s Court Theatre production is the strongest, most emotionally truthful production I’ve seen yet. This is marvelous theatre – an imaginative script, deftly stage, with three superb performances – Who could ask for anything more?"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...An extremely gifted cast fills the Court Theatre's stage for this production, such talented actors include Lois Markle, Mary Beth Fisher, and Maura Kidwell. Each one of these brilliant ladies bring the maximum level of talent to the table. Lois Markle gives an incredible performance of a dying elderly woman having trouble remembering the simplest of things. Director Charles Newell does a great job giving these actors their building blocks to master Edward Albee's work"
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Writers have a tendency to use their own pasts and those of people they know, or other stories they have heard or witnessed to create new stories. In this play, one can only assume that the Boy is indeed Albee and this women is indeed his adoptive mother. The fact is, even if this is not the case, Albee does capture the aging process as this women relives her past in her mind and as she nears her death, her recall becomes much clearer. I know from my own past , the loss of a brother and father who as they came close to the end began to talk about events that had slipped our minds and what was babbling only weeks earlier, became clear and concise recalling events that are still dear to me."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Director Charles Newell assembled a shining group of women for his cast. Markle, who was referred by Albee himself, gives a magical, heartfelt performance. Fisher keeps up with her, packing her portrayal of B with sass and vulnerability. Kidwell stumbles in the first act, unable to give C the layers required. However, any young actress is going to look unpolished when placed on-stage with such seasoned performers as Markle and Fisher. But Kidwell picks it up after intermission and holds her own."
