Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended

"...In the basement office of a large, wealthy household sit two personal assistants. They are tasked with an endless list of banal domestic errands, everything from buying sneakers to tracking down just the right brand of cleaning wipes. The details are scant. (I wanted to hear more about the absurdity of running that house!) But just when you think the plot is shaping up to be a sharp-eyed socioeconomic satire, the play takes a sharp left turn into a world of unresolved grief and loneliness — and all but runs itself off the road."
Read Full Review

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"... Between sardonic soliloquies chastising her boss, she sleeps around with magically appearing partners, develops a relationship with a colleague whose lovable quirk appears to be autism, and mourns the loss of her brother, whose spirit takes up residence in her bathtub, causing her to fall victim to ablutophobia—the fear of bathing. Get it? I didn't. Krista D'Agostino's production trivializes anything substantial Meriwether may be trying to accomplish, leaving only the mediocre rom com at the play's core."
Read Full Review

NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...The girl’s uncouth sexual and hygienic routine becomes her primary defense mechanism for coping with Buddy’s death. Unfortunately however, her noxious odor and observable uncleanliness harms a new innocent flirtation with Wilson, an office nerd with a proclivity for arbitrary noisemaking. The dominant attribute of each character, it seems, is brought on by worldly burdens and hardships, and is all the more amplified by working tirelessly to make their wealthy clients’ lives grander. But the interplay of those eccentricities with Edna’s declining mental health and the play’s overarching sitcom sensibility makes for one unappetizing psychological omelette. LiveWire seemed to have found its footing with “Oohrah!” during the Steppenwolf Garage Rep in February—putting their money on simplicity and no-nonsense directness. But “The Mistakes Madeline Made” is a slow retreat back to loony frivolousness."
Read Full Review

Centerstage - Somewhat Recommended

"... "Mistages Madeline Made" is ultimately a portrait of obsession, from Madeline's fear of dirt to Wilson's obsessive noise making, to Madeline's boss (Kristin Collins) and her handi-wipe fixation. This is a play about characters seeking to control as much as they can, hoping to keep the mind's darker forces at bay. Perhaps a bit more obsessiveness, a bit more control from D'Agostino, would have done the play good."
Read Full Review

Splash Magazine - Recommended

"... The production does humor (both dark and conventional) well too and Fred Geyer does much to help lighten the play in his rendition of several writer types bedded by Edna. Chris Zdenek as Wilson is a natural bridge between the madcap and the tragic. And Joel Ewing, the Artistic Director of LiveWire who is credited with bringing The Mistakes Madeline Made to Chicago, does well as Edna’s deceased brother Buddy who lives on in her memory as well as a bathtub slightly elevated above the main stage."
Read Full Review

ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended

"... Does it all finally come together? Amazingly, yes. The Handi Wipes turn out to be essential in the last 10 or so minutes of the play, catalysts that connect such disparate themes as the death of Edna’s war journalist brother, the reason for her filth, and the seeds of a new romance."
Read Full Review

Chicago Stage Standard - Somewhat Recommended

"... Meriwether’s whimsical study employs a kind of cute condescension to make palatable a pathology that would otherwise repel. It ends with a crack-brained love offering. Wilson wipes off Edna’s dirty limbs with Handi-Wipes as she screams from the contact with her skin. I’d rather see Jack and Rose go down on the stern of the Titanic."

Around The Town Chicago - Not Recommended

"... Live Wire Chicago Theatre is a young group of artists who create theater that reflects the current cultural landscape of our community. I have enjoyed some of their previous work and looked forward to this one. I think that given a better script, the actors and director would have given us a better production, one that would be worthy of the Live Wire reputation."
Read Full Review

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...LiveWire Chicago Theatre is starting off their 2012-2013 season with the Chicago premiere of THE MISTAKES MADELINE MADE. This wildly funny story of love and dirty people was written by creator and writer of the new hit FOX sitcom New Girl and Heddatron Elizabeth Meriwether and directed by LiveWire member Krista D’Agostino."
Read Full Review