Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...this is a smart and engaging take on a play that offers a lot of ways to go wrong in the wrong hands. Vanderwarker treats each of the three acts as discrete parts of a triptych that adds up to an engaging and oddly hopeful portrait of how we manage to keep going. “The end of this play isn’t written yet,” O’Sullivan’s Sabina tells us at the end. Maybe we can find a way to set things right again. For a while, at least."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...In act one the Antrobus family of Excelsior, New Jersey, has to cope with the Ice Age. In act two it's the biblical flood. Act three? A devastating war. I wish this sounded more far-fetched than it does. Thornton Wilder's masterpiece was supposed to be absurd when it premiered in 1942 (all except for the war part; that was real enough at the time). But now-given Harvey, Irma, Maria, and the California wildfires, just for starters-the disasters Wilder piled on humankind are beginning to look like business as usual. Which only makes this Remy Bumppo Theatre production more apt and worthwhile."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The most astounding thing about The Skin of Our Teeth, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 1942 behemoth, is that is still feels so radically experimental today. And unlike Wilder’s quietly radical Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth makes no effort to hide its eon-spanning, reality-shredding weirdness. It’s the play in which Wilder lets down his hair, grows out his moustache, and starts shooting electric acid rainbows out of his butt. And the fact that it features multiple apocalypses—complete with refugees—over its three-hour running time makes it feel more contemporary (gulp) than ever."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...It’s nearly three hours of sweetly subversive entertainment, an irresistible charmer not afraid to ask hard questions or offer intriguing solutions. Our “eternal family,” as he put it, has never so needed Wilder’s rueful comforts or ethical encouragement. He knew that this play “mostly comes alive under conditions of crisis.” Right now it couldn’t be more required."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...This production is one that many will love, but is a long one. It is three acts, each close to 45 minutes with intermissions that came close to 15 minutes between. Part of this is the Greenhouse Theater Center facility. There are limited restrooms (downstairs) and the refreshments are also downstairs in the lobby. Long lines for both make it harder to resume in less. But three hours of theater, well done is better that attending a sporting event of the same length, or longer and sure beats most films."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...This long-awaited production by Remy Bumppo Theatre doesn’t disappoint, but it might’ve done well with a bit of gentle editing. Today’s audiences aren’t used to sitting through three long acts; but they’re rewarded by the unexpected humor and profound wisdom that Director Krissy Vanderwarker has coaxed out of this allusion-heavy script. Strong characterizations, artistic technical support and a timely message make this production an appropriate, much-appreciated evening of theatre for today’s generation."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"..."The Skin of Our Teeth" can claim relevance because it touches on modern concerns like environmental challenges and the problem of refugees. Burt we have been bombarded with so much crisis news and so many conflicting and partisan solutions that Wilder's advice to humanity to just keep soldiering on sounds simplistic. Still, the playwright's heart was in the right place. The play runs a little long, though it profits from bits of updating to bring the script humorously into the new millennium. Some viewers may leave the theater unimpressed, but "The Skin of Our Teeth" is a one-of-a-kind work that attempts to address crucial issues in a distinctive offbeat style. In that sense it deserves respect and support."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Director Krissy Vanderwarker has done a splendid job of choreographing the madness, from tragedy to burlesque comedy. Most of the performances are excellent, with O'Sullivan as Sabina, Linda Gillum as Mrs. Antrobus, and Alvarez as Esmeralda, the fortune teller, being examples. Kayla Raelle Holder also did a fine job as Gladys on the evening I saw the play, filling in for Leea Ayers."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...With the characters and setting quite a bit larger than reality, the play contains a lot of humor. Some of it is very dark, while other bits are amusingly self-referential or satirical. A pair of doomed prehistoric animals, designed by Jessica Mondres, are pathetically cute. Despite the play's long running time, it is always energetic, and Vanderwarker finds different paces for it to suit each scene. Late in Act III, during a family confrontation, the focus suddenly zooms in until we are, just briefly, observing recognizable human beings on opposite sides of a terrible void. Wilder's play is optimistic, but not exactly comforting. Actually, his depiction of George Antrobus's political career taking off at the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City immediately before the whole world drowns is downright eerie."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...Everything old is about the same again in a production that is still strange and still strangely relevant seventy-five years after its premiere. Perhaps this is because the conditions presented adhere so closely to Biblical norms, both the social conservatism of a nuclear family governed by its male leader and Old Testament violence that manifests as catastrophe or murderous intent. “The earth’s getting so silly, no wonder the sun turns cold,” exclaims the put-upon Mrs. Antrobus, who keeps the home fire burning, mostly obeys her husband and whose expression is limited to a letter she has written, containing “all the things a woman knows,” to be littered in the rising sea. Under Kristen Vanderwarker’s direction, Wilder’s play is disturbingly familiar farce."
