Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Still, once the terrific Hamilton shows up in the press room, the show belatedly starts to fire on every cylinder. Hamilton knows how to take the center of the room and make all the pieces around him whir — he's at once ruthless and affectionate, the kind of surrogate dad who can get blood from a stone, in the grand Chicago newspaper tradition of such inhuman extractions"
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...TimeLine Theatre’s revival of the show, which features a mega-cast of 18 directed with wild energy by Nick Bowling, may be too relentlessly high-pitched. But it features some terrific ensemble playing, many laugh-out-loud lines, and a remarkable vintage feel that permeates both its salty, “we are all bums” attitudes and its design. And the play’s many references to election-time decision-making (much of it involving racial divides), as well as political corruption, cover-ups of botched police activities, patronage run rampant, capital punishment, the use of “Bolshevik threats” as a vote-getting tool, and more, only reinforces the notion that everything old is new again. True, there are now women in the profession (“The Front Page” is an all boys’ club, with a thick overlay of misogyny), typewriters and handset phones have been replaced, and (sadly) newsrooms are a bit shorter on true eccentrics. But many of the essentials are the same."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...the production picks up steam as it goes along, thanks in large part to the late-in-the-game arrival of Terry Hamilton as Hildy's unscrupulous editor, Walter Burns. A hilarious mix of sweaty panic and bulldog tenacity, Hamilton's Walter is determined to drag P.J. Powers's boyish Hildy back from the precipice of suburbia by any means necessary. Almost as soon as he takes over the operation, Hamilton restores the play's balance and comes close to rinsing away the earlier scenes' sour aftertaste."
Examiner - Recommended
"...Then there’s PJ Powers as Burns’ star reporter Hildy Johnson – who is about to leave the business in order to get married and settle down into a nice, polite job in advertising. You can’t see the ink stains under Powers’ fingernails, but he radiates the adrenalin-fueled drive of a compulsive reporter nonetheless. Hildy’s long-suffering fiancé (Bridgette Pechman Clarno) simply can’t compete against the likes of murderers on the lam and the rush that comes with scoring an exclusive interview with such florid miscreants."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Fortunately, the authors wrote their Wild-West-of-Clark-Street adventure as an ensemble piece, allotting each of its players intermittent rest periods to conserve their energies for the final madcap melée. Leading the charge is PJ Powers as the fourth-estate veteran unable to resist the call of a breaking story, closely followed by a squad of intrepid performers who navigate Collette Pollard and Julia Eberhardt's hyperrealistic boat-in-the-bottle environment (note the peanut shells on one of the desks) with the agility of ballet dancers in wilting serge and crumpled fedoras."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...The Front Page is a perfect play for TimeLine's mission to examine history through drama, exploring parallels and lessons for today, and they've delivered what must surely be a near-perfect production of The Front Page. They're to be commended for returning to the original script and, though I wouldn't object if the first act were pruned a bit, we can appreciate the authenticity in the name of using the opportunity to explore some theater history at the same time."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Besides Powers, Terry Hamilton leads the strong cast as tyrant Walter Burns, the manipulating managing editor who will stop at nothing to both get the exclusive and keep crack reporter Johnson at his paper. Bill McGough’s whiney, brown-nosing Sheriff Hartman and Rob Riley’s corrupt Mayor make a smarmy duo. Chameleon Malcolm Callan easily slips into two diverse roles as mob informant Diamond Louie and modest Mr. Pincus. TimeLine triumphs once again, making history both enjoyable and exciting with this effervescent American classic."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Friday’s screenwriter, frequent Hecht associate Charles Lederer, and director Howard Hawks upped the stakes by turning Hildy from male to female and making her not just publisher Walter Burns’s star reporter, but also his ex-wife. Burns shows up in Front Page (engagingly played by Terry Hamilton), but not until the play’s two-thirds gone. We’re left to focus on the reporters’ racist, misogynistic, dubiously ethical shit-shooting—and in Bowling’s slow-paced, high-volume production, that shit may be historically accurate, but it doesn’t merit above-the-fold placement."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...I must state that every performance here is first-class- making for one of the finest ensemble plays in years! I especially enjoyed the fabulous work and stage chemistry from Terry Hamilton as the controlling editor and P.J. Powers as the charismatic ace reporter. Every minute of this landmark comedy works and the comedic timing is rich in laughs. This enjoyable show demonstrates the high production values of TimeLine Theatre. They do theatre right. Get there to see how to mount a classic comedy – you’ll have loads laughs too!"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...“The Front Page” is a very electric story done by a very impressive production team; I find performances like these to be why Timeline has distinguished themselves as one of Chicago’s more beloved theatre companies. Now I’ve been thinking about this during the whole writing process of this review, and the best way I can describe the significance of such a brilliant play is like this: Stop the presses! Timeline has produced another hit that greatly deserves your attention as an audience member! Put that in your headlines, Tribune."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...If you are familiar with the work that Timeline puts on its stage, you know that you will get high quality, as always and if you have never visited their theater, why not? This would be a great start and will make you a regular."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Bowling’s production is brisk, clean, driven at just the right speed, and refined with an eye for details, both big—his cast is just right; it’s enough of a challenge to appropriately fill roles in a standard-sized show, and The Front Page is huge; and small—a 100 percent grease-saturated translucent hamburger bag evokes a reminder of why we’re the City of Broad Shoulders."