Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Nick Sandys seems born to play Higgins, the phonetics expert whose encyclopedic knowledge of how words are formed doesn't keep him from using them as blunt-force weapons. He's well matched by Kelsey Brennan's Eliza, the "guttersnipe" who learns to talk and act like a lady - and who also learns how to get "a little of my own back.""
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Nick Sandys, Remy Bumppo's artistic director - and this production's Henry Higgins - was made for the role. An Englishman born and bred, he demonstrated his mastery beyond any doubt when he starred in last summer's Light Opera Works production of "My Fair Lady," and rendered both the songs and dialogue to bristling perfection. Now he is playing the maddeningly charming misogynist once again, and while there are no songs this time around, there is plenty of music in the language of the play itself. (I must admit I miss the splendid scene from the musical in which the actual grueling teaching process is dramatized.)"
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Remy Bumppo Theatre Company's superbly acted production of George Bernard Shaw's brilliant 1913 comedy bristles with intelligence, passion, and hilarity. Refreshingly free of the sentimentality of the play's well-known 1956 musicalization My Fair Lady, Shawn Douglass's in-the-round staging illuminates the complex, fiery relationship between curmudgeonly phonetics professor Henry Higgins and his pupil Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney street urchin who wants to learn to speak "like a lady" so she can get ahead in class-conscious Edwardian England."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Kelsey Brennan renders up a suitably charming and slyly perceptive Eliza, while Nick Sandys' home-grown English accent continues to make him the go-to actor for brainy-Victorian-Brit roles. Their incisive repartee is tempered by commentary from Annabel Armour as Higgins' formidable mother, Laurie Larson as his practical housekeeper and Peter A. Davis as his associate Colonel Pickering, Shaw's portrait of the true gentleman ( to whom all men are gentlemen and all women, ladies )."
Edge - Recommended
"...As Eliza herself, Kelsey Brennan is stronger as Eliza transformed than Eliza either in or fresh from Covent Garden. She has command of the dialect (as do all the cast, which is critical), but her humor is somewhat outsized for the space and somewhat quieter tone of the production. This is most obvious in the fact that she and David Darlow (Alfred) never quite click as father and daughter. Each is funny in their own right, but there's something mismatched about their pacing and energy. That said, Brennan excels late in the play when directly sparring with Higgins."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...And Douglass’s production does feel quite modern in the way it presents Shaw’s characters. It does little to brighten the play’s darker currents, or romanticize its more outdated attitudes. It shows Henry Higgins for the outrageous jerk that he truly is, and it goes out of its way to give Eliza the final laugh."
ShowBizChicago - Recommended
"...There is no question that Remy Bumppo selected Pygmalion as a vehicle for Artistic Director Nick Sandys (who the role of Higgin's fits like a fine lambskin glove) and ensemble member Kelsey Brennan (one of the finest Eliza's I have seen, with an uncanny resemblance to Mrs. Patrick Campbell). Both of these superb actors possess the correct chemistry and skill crucial to the success of the play; they are equally matched."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Aficionados of My Fair Lady will be fascinated by how and where that masterpiece transposed scenes, its goal to depict an emotional dependency between Henry and Eliza that finally goes both ways. But, of course, coming forty years first, Pygmalion stands by itself. It's well worth this restoration: Eliza's declaration of independence resonates across the years, a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Higgins's cunning, if unwitting, collaboration in her freedom is just what Pygmalion owed Galatea: She gets to breathe on her own, whether as "my fair lady" or her own emancipated woman."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...In Pygmalion, we see the arrogance toward women played out in society that still resonates today as misogynistic treatment by Higgins that still can be found. The terrific cast is most respectful to the material as each player skillfully presents their characters. Remy Bumppo's cast was respectful to the classic work they were producing. This is a fast-paced and funny play that will have you rediscovering the Pygmalion myth. It dramatizes, with sharp wit and humor that found the different classes in conflict as women's role in society was emerging from Victorian values. This is one of the best play mounted on a chicago stage this year!"
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Under Shawn Douglass’ expert direction, with a deceptively simple scenic design by Jacqueline and Richard Penrod, actors cloaked in gorgeous Edwardian fashions by Kristy Leigh Hall and the whole thing beautifully lit by Andrew Meyers, audiences will be charmed by the transformation of the flower girl who blooms into a lady. And, with this director’s masterful strokes of creativity, we also see that lady become a proud, accomplished woman, as well."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"..."Pygmalion" is one of the major British comedies of the last century, even though t's overshadowed by the musical adaptation. It's an especially rewarding blend of Shavian wit and intellectual outreach, all delivered in a concise two hours of playing time, plus one intermission. We don't get as much Shaw on local stages as we used to, and this production reminds us of what we are missing-wit, a mastery of the English language, mental stimulation, and opportunities for fine acting."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...As director Shawn Douglass astutely notes, most of us are familiar with Pygmalion thanks to My Fair Lady. As musicals do, Lerner and Loewe's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's ironically subtitled "romance" transforms the characters into caricatures and dialogue into song (or spoken word poetry accompanied with music). What we tend to forget about Pygmalion is its poignancy and darkness: Higgins and Eliza are not in love, and while he does "help" her with language and fashion, he does little to prepare her for an outside world where she's already experienced plenty of hardship. Thanks to Douglass' elegant direction and two phenomenal leads - not to mention excellent supporting actors and lovely production design - Remy Bumppo's Pygmalion is one for the ages."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Douglass has a remarkable cast to work with. Sandys and Davis are consummate performers whose every tone and action are right. Brennan is excellent as the ambitious flower girl, as she learns to be a lady, carefully aspirating her "h's," and as Higgins' glamorous almost-finished project. David Darlow as Alfred Doolittle has two delightful turns as Eliza's father. First, the dustman visits Higgins, seeking to benefit from his daughter's new situation. And later, he arrives in top hat and tails as the about-to-be bridegroom who has come into some money (three thousand a year!) as a result of Higgins' casual recommendation to an American philanthropist."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...Pygmalion is perfect for those who love the wit and charm of George Bernard Shaw's plays. People who are fans of this company will certainly enjoy this production."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...Rey Bumppo's version of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" is true to the original, beautifully staged and cunningly directed with a modern feminist slant, and offers much to the eye, to the mind, and to the imagination. The actors demonstrate a remarkable grasp of British dialect, and a facility for the quick turn of phrase and intelligent repartee that is a Shaw trademark."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...As Henry Higgins, Nick Sandys embodies an entire thesaurus full of synonyms for immature. He is fretting, self-absorbed, impetuous and ultimately incapable of modifying his own behavior despite gloating over his ability to transform another human being. And yet even Sandys cannot outshine Kelsey Brennan as Eliza Doolittle, at least in part because her dramatic lexicon is not limited to a unidirectional temperament. And while much of “Pygmalion” may leave the intellectually impatient cold, the play’s final scene, in which Eliza delivers her great rebuke of Professor Higgins, to this day represents a high-point of feminist writing."
