Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"... Griffin, invariably at his formidable best in Chicago and Stratford when translating formidable proscenium musicals into more intimate and personal thrust configurations, has achieved a "Follies" with real human consequences. Reunions sting because they reveal the agonizing inequality of our achievements, be they professional or personal. Happiness, misery, failure and success are afforded us without referent to our deserving, and even a receipt won't get you an exchange. That's the heart of "Follies," and, to Griffin's great credit, it beats here with palpable force. Especially within the show's women."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"... If you are passionately in love with show business —with tour-de-force production numbers, torch songs that burn the edges off your heart and soul, classic vaudeville routines, song-and-dance novelty acts, swirls of operetta, and all the things that for decades prompted Variety to print headlines bearing those unbeatable words, “SOCKO” and “BOFFO” —then “Follies,” the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman extravaganza now receiving a massive, insightfully cast, can-you-top-this production at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater is the show to see."
Examiner - Highly Recommended
"... Director Gary Griffin gets all of this, and imbues Chicago Shakespeare staging with all the razzle dazzle you’d expect from a show about showgirls. Set during a reunion of ex-Weisman Girls – Dmitri Weisman (Mike Nussbaum) being the stand-in for vaudeville impresario Florenz Ziegfeld – Follies unfolds in 1971 in a dilapidated theater, a formerly glamorous and bustling locale slated for demolition. On the eve of its destruction, the girls of Weisman’s shows from the turn of the century through the early 1940s arrive for one last look at their former dancing ground. As the reunion opens a complex network of old wounds and unfinished business, Follies spins from a traditional book musical into a sung-through revue and a structure that seems to mirror Weisman’s Follies themselves."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...Griffin's production throughout has the feeling of being elaborate and spectacular, but on reflection, after the show has ended, it becomes apparent that he's done much with somewhat fewer resources than are generally assumed to be necessary to mount this show. He has a cast of 29—large by most standards, but smaller than the 38 now performing it on Broadway. The strength of the subtle, nuanced performances and above all the masterful interpretation of the Sondheim score under the musical direction of Brad Haak (and heard perfectly thanks to the clarity of the sound design by Joshua Horvath and Ray Nardelli) put the focus on the characters, their journeys, and the wonderful songs. This is a Follies not to be missed."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...The large, multi-gifted cast shines with talented Broadway professionals and Chicago veterans. Susan Moniz bares her soul as naive Sally, whose mundane life with selfless husband Buddy (Robert Petkoff) is filled with fantasies of marrying Phyllis’ self absorbed husband, Ben. Caroline O’Connor’s stunning, sophisticated Phyllis is frustrated by her emotionless marriage, while Brent Barrett creates a suave yet shallow Ben. And Hollis Resnik, Nancy Voigts and Marilyn Bogetich sparkle musically, each stopping the show in this must-see musical that does Chicago proud."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"... Since its debut 40 years ago, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s wistful musical drama—set at a reunion of showgirls and stage-door johnnies in their now-decrepit, soon to be demolished theater—has often been called problematic for various reasons: its large cast; its initially intermissionless length; the unwieldy balance among its story lines, including a late fantasy sequence that can be a tough sell. As such, it’s relatively rare to see a full-scale revival of Follies; bare-bones concert productions are slightly more common."
Chicago Theatre Addict - Highly Recommended
"...But the best Follies isn’t just about big moments, although that’s a major point of the show as these former follies girls gather for one last hurrah before their theatre is torn down. No, Follies is also about tying these moments together with a cohesive dramatic thread. And Griffin’s production focuses on the core partygoers and their struggles as they challenge their ghosts face-on (and quite literally in this production: in “Who’s That Woman?,” for example, the ladies have a tap-off with their ghostly counterparts while looking them square in the eye.)"
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"... Under Gary Griffin’ fine direction, the 40-member cast is excellent – in voice and character depiction — doing justice to the complexity of the story and the brilliant score. Three songs – and their renditions — are outstanding, a tribute to the poignancy of Sondheim’s melodies and the wit and versatility of his lyrics: Hollis Resnik who as aging diva Carlotta Campion, brought down the house with her rendition of I’m Still Here, Moniz for Losing My Mind and O’Connor for Could I Leave You."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"... Gary Griffin’s lavish revival, the much awaited season opener for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, has more thrills than a Halloween haunted house. The singing inspires the acting and vice versa, just as in the book the past does the present. Kevin Depinet’s moody set changes contrast the present’s decline with the vintage make-believe of forty years before. Interestingly, we are now as many years past the show’s original setting as it is from the particular past that it ponders."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Highly Recommended
"...Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s FOLLIES. It’s 1971. Dimitri Weismann is closing his theatre forever. Before the demolition starts on the new parking lot, he wants to revisit his glamorous decade of Follies. He invites all the Weismann Girls back for a thirty-year reunion. And they accept. A television star. A widow of five...husbands. A perfume entrepreneur. A diplomat’s wife. A Phoenix housewife. Whatever their personal dramas are offstage, it can’t compete with the allure of returning to their glitzy onstage memories. Chicago Shakespeare Theater launches its 25th Anniversary Season with one spectacular diva-licious celebration."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"... Griffin has a true undertanding of Sondheim and his music and has put together a cast that follows his lead. We, the sudience are the fortunate ones as we get to see this piece of work performed as it should be. The story takes place in 1971, some 30 years after the legendary Wismann Follies ended its run and before the theater is torn down for a new parking lot, owner Dimitri Weismann ( the always reliable Mike Nussbaum) ha sinvited the surviving performers back for a festive farewell. It turns out, there are “ghosts” in the building, at least in the minds of those gathered, most of which is their own baggage and the memories that haunt them of the choices they made those many years ago."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"... The music of Follies is heavy on the hooks, making the score pleasantly infectious. The cast is chockfull of heavy hitters who know how to use the power of their voices for maximum effect. It’s just the story of the tragic lovers that doesn’t live up to the rest of the production. But I suppose it’s easy to get overshadowed when you’re competing with quintessential Sondheim."