Chicago Tribune
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Sherman obviously loves Hecht as a writer and a man. If he can find a way to sculpt the text and perhaps infuse his own passion and insight as an American Jewish writer who has wrestled with assimilation into Hecht's own defiant journey from Hollywood bon vivant to activist, "The Ben Hecht Show" will serve its enormously fascinating subject even better."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...We learn much of this in "The Ben Hecht Show," a fascinating new one-man play written and performed by James Sherman (among whose many popular plays is "The God of Isaac," about his years growing up in Skokie and confronting his identity as an American Jew in the late 1970s). But it is just background for the real subject of this 95-minute piece now in a Grippo Stage Company production at Piven Theatre. It is the lesser known Hecht that intrigues Sherman as he explores the man's gradual and unexpected understanding of who he was as a Jew, what Judaism is all about, and why anti-Semitism has been such a pervasive form of hatred for millennia."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...In this Grippo Stage Company production, his primary subjects are Ben Hecht's rediscovery of his Jewishness after decades of secularism, his crusade to save European Jews during the Holocaust, and his militant Zionism afterward. Activists like Shmaryahu Levin and Hayim Greenberg get far more attention than Alfred Hitchcock or Howard Hawks. I think Sherman must hope that Hecht's struggle will inform the current, troubled moment, in which Israel seems especially isolated and diaspora Jews especially embattled. If so, he needs a more pointed script and a less opaque title. One thing he needn't worry about: Under Dennis Zacek's direction, Sherman gives excellent Hecht."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...The Ben Hecht Show is filled with fine examples of Hecht's brilliant writing that was expertly delivered by James Sherman. This is an important solo show that contains the wit, wisdom, and commitment of a major public figure to a worthy cause. Hecht's story is in good hands with Sherman."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...The Chicago theater world knows James Sherman as a playwright, but certainly not as the man on the stage. Well, my friends, meet the "other" James Sherman. With the extention of his new play, "The Ben Hecht Show" being presented by Grippo Stage Company at The Piven Theatre in Evanston, I was able to get the opportunity to see this World Premiere! Thank you Grippo for adding the extra weeks that made this possible, and thank you James Sherman for having the time available to continue bringing this historical figure to life."
Dueling Critics
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The Ben Hecht Show, Grippo Stage Company at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center: Under Dennis Zacek's direction, James Sherman wrote and performed this monologue about Hecht's largely unremembered role in trying to interrupt the Holocaust while it was still happening--and his failures in so doing. It's a fascinating story and a new perspective on a man best known for something he wasn't for very long, namely, a Chicago newspaperman. But though I understand that the point of the show was Hecht's discovering his Jewishness through encountering the Nazis, the constant references to Jewishness felt relentless to me, and I'm a Jew. Throughout, I wondered what it would sound like to the goyim, and concluded that it would sound like kvetching."
NewCity Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Sherman’s portrayal of Hecht feels like a performance of a performance, as the name-dropping celebrity flaunts his wit and righteousness onstage, while never revealing himself. Sherman’s combination of flat, affectless voice and florid gesture gives a note of effortful insincerity to the role, which may well be the appropriate choice."
