Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...Still, it's an undeniably fascinating story with timely implications, and I suspect that the performances will grow more assured over the run. As it is, it's worth seeing for Greenhouse in particular, whose performance embodies a proud man whose gifts are out of step with the tumultuous times in which he's caught."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Now in its Chicago premiere at Raven Theatre, under the direction of Michael Menendian (who did such a superb job with last season's "Direct from Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys"), the production features outstanding turns by Brandon Greenhouse (a "Scottsboro Boys" alum, who should unquestionably play Othello in full at some point) as Aldridge, and the nuanced and confident Tuckie White as Ellen Tree, the very English (white) actress who played opposite him as Desdemona. It also has its ear to the ground, echoing many of the current controversies about casting, race, "authenticity" and the theory of acting itself."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Despite glancing references to contemporary issues like nontraditional casting, the play feels like an unconvincing museum piece, culminating in not one but two overwrought climaxes. Under Michael Menendian's serviceable direction, this Raven Theatre premiere can't enliven an overly demonstrative script."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Even the most efficiently articulated history lesson risks miring down in academic minutiae. However, under the direction of Michael Menendian, the cast of this Raven Theatre production-in particular, Brandon Greenhouse's Aldridge, who moves from operatic grandiloquence to heartbreaking intimacy with a charismatic grace and elegance-wrap themselves seamlessly into their personae with unswerving commitment to generate an urgency. This propels the action at a vigorous pace commanding our attention from the first moments of the two-hour running time right up to the poignant denouement when the aged idol dons whiteface in preparation for playing Lear, who will, later that night, speak to us from the stage of bitterness and betrayal."
Theatre By Numbers - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Michael Menendian does what he can to build complex relationships between Greenhouse and the other actors, but the shouting matches that result betray how thin the script is when it comes to flesh and blood choices. Why does theater manager Pierre LaPorte (Matthew Klingler) not defend his leading man, when London newspapers print racist reviews? What becomes of Aldridge’s wife Margaret (Sophia Menendian), once he is forced to tour on the road again? What is the personal cost of such racism to Aldridge? The playwright cares so much about scope that she loses her sense of scale, and this history play is turned into a dead, rather than a living, thing."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...We are not in Chicago 2016, however, but rather in London 1833; and a situation that already looks awkward and volatile is about to turn much worse. Aldridge returns in Othello's weeds and in Othello's mindset: patrician, authoritative, and in love with the beautiful blonde Desdemona (Tuckie White). They play their meeting scene, after Othello has sunk the Turkish fleet. Their words are filled with passion, but their gestures - hers, anyway - are stylized. She's playing to the house; he suggests that she play instead to him, the object of her adoration and longing."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Director Michael Menendian has cast this drama well. His eight person cast nicely move from one character to another with fine accents (and languages). But Brndon Greenhouse carries the show with his dynamic performance. Red Velvet is a tremendous enjoyable play that tells a little know but true story. i never knew about Ira Aldringe but I do now. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Aldridge - then get to Raven Theatre to see Red Velvet."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Being a first is hard. James Meredith, the first African-American to enroll in the University of Mississippi, wrote in Esquire's 2013 issue, "Ole Miss kicked my butt and they're still celebrating." It wasn't much better for Ira Aldridge, the first African-American actor to appear on professional European stages. Originally an actor with The African Theatre in New York, Aldridge left the United States after his first company was closed by a pro-slavery drama critic who was also a sheriff. In 2012, his story was picked up by Bengali-British actress Lolita Chakrabarti, who was inspired to write Red Velvet with her husband in the lead role. Now in a Chicago premiere expertly directed by Michael Menendian, the play nonetheless takes a little while to get started, but it directly addresses several of the issues surrounding casting and the conflation between artists' desire to change society and self-advancement which have been so contentious in the performing arts as of late, and as shown by the play, for a long time before now."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...The cast is uniformly excellent – Matt Klingler, Tim Martin, and Tuckie White stand out – but the play belongs to Brandon Greenhouse, who is simply startling as Aldridge. I had previously seen Greenhouse in two Raven productions (“Scottsboro Boys” and “Milk Like Sugar”), and though he was excellent in both, it hardly prepared me for the confident, even swaggering charisma that he brings to Aldridge, a man who, by the time of 1833, had dealt with far too much in America to bow down to the idiotic racists of the UK. Voice booming, aggressively gesticulating – Greenhouse is terrific, and he commands attention whenever he is on the stage."
Irish American News - Highly Recommended
"...Brandon Greenhouse, as Aldridge, puts on a fine performance. His abrasive style, typified by the English as 'Yankee', has the right amount of edge to irk his fellow performers while upsetting preconceived interracial relations. He embodies a man ahead of his time, and yet weighed down by its hypocrisy."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Greenhouse, who played a featured role in Raven's Direct from Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys, gives a superb performance again as the confident, even arrogant, Aldridge. He is quite sure of his dramatic abilities but insecure as a man (as well he might be in 1833 London). But he was only guilty of acting while black."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The acting here is big, befitting the period. That quality is well addressed in the "offstage" action especially as it pertains to Ira's hot blood and his modern, hands-on approach to acting. As the lead, Brandon Greenhouse huffs and puffs but is best when he reveals the tender innards of a man so consistently flogged by the world at large. Chakrabarti weaves elements of "Othello" into the fabric of this tragedy, highlighting the insidious politeness of racism in the early nineteenth century with plenty of subtle echoes to contemporary dog whistling and race baiting."
