Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"..."Shining Lives" is a new Chicago musical well worth seeing; it has some beautiful scenes and a clutch of excellent musical performances. In one of the most interesting and haunting motifs, Thebus and her collaborators pick up on the cruel irony that the women were creating timepieces even as they shortened their own time on this planet with every lick of paint. Of course, we're all running out of time every day. Better, perhaps, to seek a glow. Not involving radium."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"..."Shining Lives: A Musical," the fervent yet poetic chamber work now receiving an aptly radiant world premiere at Northlight Theatre, is, above all, a story of courage and determination in the face of profound betrayal."
Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...The song roster includes a few choruses for bosses, doctors, lawyers, reporters and other obligatory villains, but its predominant focus is to provide a showcase for delicate treble harmonies rendered clean and crystalline under the musical direction of Chuck Larkin. Whether you go home lamenting the sacrifice of helpless innocents to Big Business or championing the groundbreaking reforms perpetrated by brave opponents thereof, no one can deny the charm and expertise of Jess Godwin, Bri Sudia, Tiffany Topol and Johanna McKenzie Miller in narrating this small, but significant, chapter in our nation's history."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Pluess and Dehnert's absorbing acoustic score is played to the side of the mostly bare stage by pianist Chuck Larkin and the show's male cast members, Alex Goodrich, Erik Hellman and Matt Mueller, who alternate between their onstage scenes and accompanying on guitar, banjo and mandolin. The songs take advantage of the four leads' rich vocals to give voice to the women's dreams of autonomy; even the courtroom sequence is more about the quartet's supporting, and eventually succumbing to, the fight. It's a small but, indeed, radiant story."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Director Jessica Thebus gave this musical an aura of ritual. It begins and ends with candlelight, and the soft music is accompanied by Stephan Mazurek’s projections, which borrow a theme of time and eternity from the clock faces the workers died producing. Catherine even has a song pointing out the irony. The singing is all lovely, and though sad, is warm, and Sudia’s is particularly funny. Several scenes take place in near-darkness, except for lighting by JR Lederle, which imitates the radioactive glow. The program note points out how worker safety laws were changed in part due to the real Catherine Donohue’s court actions, granting the factory women a posthumous victory. This production is therefore a kind of memorial tribute, and the new music supports that purpose quite well. These women’s story is outrageous, but Shining Lives is an affirmation of human dignity."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Several years ago, Chicago theater audiences saw a marvelous little play called "These Shining Lives" written by Melanie Marnich. That play tells us the tale of a period in the 1920's and 1930's detailing the Illinois company, The Radium Dial Company and the effects that this glow in the dark clock process had on the workers who made this company famous. A very impressive play. Now, a new version of this story is being told as part of Northlight's 40th Anniversary. It is now, however what we term a "chamber" musical. The show is called "Shining Lives: a Musical" with a book and lyrics by Jessica Thebus and music composed by Andre Pluess and Amanda Dehnert."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This musical, with it’s beautiful, emotionally mellow score, continues in the path of classic films like “Silkwood” and “Norma Rae.” It paints a portrait of big business deceitfully manipulating its employees, particularly the females. It points an accusatory finger at companies guilty of doing anything, including sacrificing the health and safety of their workers, for the sake of the almighty dollar."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...The "Shining Lives" honor roll starts with Jessica Thebus, a Chicagoland director of considerable stature who not only directs the show flawlessly but also wrote the book and lyrics. Then come Andre Pluess and Amanda Dehnert, who composed a score that is a model of efficiency, every song illuminating a situation or character. The observer may not leave the theater humming any of the show's songs, but each number carries its weight, starting with the happy times when the women share the joy of friendship and what they think is an ideal job, and darkening into the recognition of their fatal condition and their eventual crusade against the offending company."
