Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...After all, the story of most of the great girl groups, like the story of many families, is one of closely entwined love and resentment. There are those "family members" like Beyonce and Diana Ross who run off to greater fame and fortune, and those who get left behind to wonder about what might have been. But as "Sounds So Sweet" makes clear, when you stop talking about the drama and let it sing out instead, you've got a winning formula for healing hearts."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...The catalyst for "Sounds So Sweet," the engaging new Black Ensemble Theater show written and directed by Reuben D. Echoles, is a funeral. But before she moved on, Grandstine - the matriarch of the Harrison family, who spent her life in a small town in Mississippi - let it be known that she wanted no crying or lamenting at the ceremony."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Shows by Black Ensemble Theater tend to come with a slight trade-off: in order to enjoy the exhilarating live music, you have to excuse the mawkish framing device that surrounds it. But the song-to-sap ratio is way out of whack in this nearly three-hour-long revival of Rueben D. Echoles's 2010 celebration of girl groups. Sisters reunite in their Mississippi hometown to rehearse a memorial performance for Grandstine, the family matriarch."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Black Ensemble Theater, in the last few years, has found itself caught between the proverbial rock and you-know-what—the former being playgoers impatient with scripted dialogue providing context for the nostalgic concert-style showcases, and the latter composed of critics demanding social significance beyond the microcosmic issues raised thereby. Writer-director Rueben D. Echoles' production appears well on the way to striking a balance amenable to both camps, though, making for a tidy two-and-a-half hours ( with one intermission ) of words and warbles, ending with all the characters content, if not precisely happy. Schadenfreude junkies can revel in intergenerational despair at Steppenwolf, but those of us advocating reconciliation over alienation heartily endorse the values reflected in this optimistic parable."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...Grandstine, the beloved Mississippi matriarch of the Harris clan, has died and gone to her reward. Her many loved ones return to their roots for a "going to heaven" sendoff for the founder of the feast. That's the premise-and it's excuse enough-for Sounds So Sweet, a fulsome tribute to one family's values and to "girl groups" from The Andrews Sisters to Destiny's Child. Director/author Rueben Echoles' latest offering from Black Ensemble Theater mixes golden oldies and hot hits. The result is an overlong but warmly wrought salute to ballads and blood. In this family album every snapshot is a song."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...This musical is long on family melodrama that plays with too many log gaps between songs. We grow impatient to hear more of the show's songbook. This is a valiant attempt to write full musical but it needs some judicious cuts and trims that will highlight the families passion for girl groups . I'd expand the "going to heaven" final concert that Grandstine strongly demanded upon her passing. This sweet show does contain the style used to great effect by the Black Ensemble: hope, love, and tributes to musical from the black groups. Sounds So Sweet has fine ambitions and, over time, could emerge as a terrific show. Let is more sure applies here. I appreciate the Black Ensemble's expanding their artistic variety. They always mount high-energy shows."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...There are times that I find it difficult to stay with the rating system that I have been using for these many years. The reason is simple! There are times when the talent in a show far outweighs the actual content of the show. When I do a review, part of what I am telling you, my audience/readers in both the newspapers where you are seeing this or here on my website is if you will get enjoyment from the experience that this particular production brings. Also, if there is a value for you in what the tickets cost. Now that I have said this, let me go on to advise you about the latest offering of one of my favorite ensembles, Black Ensemble Theater, the “gem” of Uptown."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...It’s great to spend an evening in the company of so many talented performers, lifting their voices in yet another BET musical. Would that some of the book could be trimmed, this could be a sensational tune-filled revue, a delightful trip down memory lane for every generation. Featuring exciting hit songs like “We Are Family,” “Going Up Yonder” and “Survivor,” this piece has lots of variety and music of the soul for every age group. In its present incarnation, however, the show, although genuine in spirit, is simply too much said and not enough done. Just bring on the music!"
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Somewhat Recommended
"...It's time for the BET to rethink its artistic strategy. The salutes to outstanding African American singers are laudable and deserve a proper theatrical setting. "Sounds So Smooth" could have worked beautifully as a presentation of the cream of the girl groups of the last half-century, with the emphasis on performing the songs, embellished with background information and perhaps visual special effects like historical video. That approach succeeded gloriously for the BET in last year's "Chicago's Golden Soul," which should serve as an artistic template for the type of entertainment the company dedicates itself to. The singers are too good to have their skills undercut by floundering and overlong productions like "Sounds So Smooth.""
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...Black Ensemble veteran U-Deen portrays "Grandstine" Harris, the matriarch of an extended Mississippi family, who has, yes, unfortunately recently deceased. But as Grandstine's three daughters and their families return to their childhood home for the services, their mother's presence is constantly being felt in this beloved house - whether it's all the family pictures on the living room wall she enjoyed gazing at (the main feature of Black Ensemble's minimalist set) or in the stories they remember growing up."
