Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Scripted by Terry McCabe and directed by Warner Crocker, the show employs a chamber theater style, with Watson narrating the action while also participating in it. The result is entertaining storytelling, yet also unusually moving in its exploration of the dogged devotion Watson (Adam Bitterman) feels for the strung-out supersleuth (James Sparling, a lookalike for the famous Sidney Paget drawings of Holmes in the Strand Magazine). Lee Wichman is a lovely Freud, at once gentle and steely as he probes the secrets of the subconscious."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Although Holmes is the draw, it's Wichman's Austrian Specialist that's the show's real star. His dry, understated wit is most welcome, as Sparling struggles with exactly how to portray a coked-up Sherlock and Bitterman's booming narration drags through most of Act I. It isn't until the game is afoot in Act II that the show finds itself. After a queasy first half, it's an old-fashioned Sherlock Holmes mystery that proves the real solution."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...This terrific play demonstrates how much Watson is dedicated to Holmes and how, once he realizes he needs help, Holmes follows Watson suggestions to listen to the A.S. The entire cast was excellent with Elliot Fredlund as Professor Moriarty, Adrienne Matzen as Nancy offering fine supporting work. Lee Wichman as the A.S together with Adam Bitterman and James Sparling anchoring the story with wonderful performances, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution becomes a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat entertainment. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution is fine theatre with fully developed characters and. of course, a clever mystery. The mystery character, A.S. will surprise and enlighten you. City Lit Theater sure does a nice job with Sherlock Homes mysteries. See this show!"
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...t’s delightful to watch Holmes and A.S. in action, Sparlings’ splenetic and driven process of elimination a rich contrast to the introspective experimentation of Wichman’s “talking cure.” But then everything clicks—from Ray Toler’s period set to LaVisa Angela Williams’ historical costumes to Laura J. Wiley’s romantic lighting effects. Best of all, playing 18 roles, the crackerjack eight-member ensemble keep the game afoot, with food for thought and thrills galore, plentifully provided. But no “nose candy” whatever."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
...City Lit Theatre’s latest play is an adaptation of Nicholas Meyer’s 1974 critically acclaimed Sherlock Holmes bestseller of the same title. If you think you have already seen it because you saw the film in 1976, think again. The book was substantially different than the film, particularly regarding the central mystery, and if you are either a book purist or have only seen the film, you’ll be very happy with this adaptation."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...But seeing is not the same as observing—Holmes says as much in “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution,” currently running at City Lit—and so initial impressions about this new adaptation might tell you little about its real content. Ostensibly, the play appears to be an alternate history of Holmes’ final case and cocaine addiction, being told by an elderly Watson. The adaptation of Nicholas Meyer’s novel receives its largely faithful first production here, with an all-white cast under the direction of Warner Crocker. The syntax of the dialogue sounds like Arthur Conan Doyle, and the performances are strong across the board, especially from Adam Bitterman as Watson, and the small roles played by the two female members of the cast (Adrienne Matzen, Chelsea Roberts).
