Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Brilliance of craft came to Durang when he was young, but the wisdom of age also is on display, along with a seductive set from Charlie Corcoran that embodies both the ideal place to retire and the worst possible place to retire, being as you would be out of the game, a place where the Spikes and Ninas of this world are not easily tempted to visit and almost impossible to persuade to stick around. And if they do, they probably will steal something nice."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...The play captures a clear sense of the enduring, universal afflictions of neurosis, narcissism, bitterness, envy, despair at failure, anguish over a wasted life and the fear of aging. And there is a strongly implied sense that Chekhov was never more "our contemporary" than in his warnings about environmental degradation, now framed by "climate change.""
Gapers Block - Recommended
"...Steve Scott's new Goodman Theatre production is funny and charming and much of its wit rests on the many theatrical references and stage in-jokes (fond references to Chekhov and Greek tragedies, and to theater masters such as Stanislavski and Meisner). In addition, monologues by three of its characters are compelling and humorous set pieces."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Durang’s farcical Chekhovian parallels are deftly deployed, just self-aware enough to be short of obnoxious. Steve Scott’s first-rate cast finds all of the highbrow fun in the play’s allusions to The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters. But they also key in to the real Chekhovian pathos Durang bakes into their characters. Fisher, who played Madame Arkadina in Robert Falls’s Seagull at the Goodman a few years back, sinks her teeth into a neurotically obnoxious version of the same character here. And both Brooks and Lehman get grand Act II tours de force: Lehman with an epic, explosive rant about simpler times, and Brooks, alone onstage, playing one side of a simple phone call like a symphony orchestra."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...I hate going here, I really do, because it’s going to sound like home cooking, but the hysterical truth is – and everything about this is hysterical – that the Goodman Theatre romp through Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” roundly eclipses the production I saw last season in New York. Directed by Steve Scott, this show is so smart and tight, so killingly funny, that seeing it just once may not be possible."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...He's no longer an angry young playwright and gay avenger, the bad-boy Jeremiah who unleashed scorched-earth provocations (Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and Beyond Therapy). The sexagenarian Christopher Durang has momentously mellowed. A take-no-prisoners satirist has softened into a surprisingly kind-hearted and compassionate chronicler of foibles. As the first three names in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike imply, this domestic tragicomedy is mostly homage to Chekhov-but "Spike" warns you it's an American update."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...Taken as a whole, Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike isn't my brand of humor and the usual over laughing opening night audience was amazingly muted. Few belly laughs were heard and the usual standing ovation at the end was less than normal. I think Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike is either a "love it" or "hate it" show. My problem with it lies in Durang's writing not the fine direction by Steve Scott or the fine comic work from the "A" list Equity cast. Too many silly bits and over exaggerated situations fueled the comic overload. Still, avid parody lovers, especially those familiar with Chekhov may enjoy this show."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...They say that "laughter is good for what ails you", and I for one believe this to be the case. Which makes a great case for the current production on the stage of The Goodman Theatre, "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike". This is an American farce that has some inane story-lines, unreal characters and situations, but ultimately allows us the opportunity to leave our troubles and thoughts out on Dearborn Avenue as we enjoy laughing at the characters and situations in Christopher Durang's "tour de farce" about an unusual family."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning play is a perfect entertainment for a warm, summer evening. While not nearly as absurd as most of his earlier works, this play is the product of an older, wiser, more mellow playwright for whom life continues to inspires ideas worth sharing. It's lighthearted and brimming with bizarre characters and unexpected humor, yet it speaks volumes about aging, love, global warming and the way technology has taken over our lives. Durang's play rolls with the continual ebb and flow of life's drama and comedy. And while this isn't exactly Chekhov, its exploration of the same themes, albeit with a contemporary hand, is just as rewarding."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...Perhaps surprisingly, one doesn’t have to be intimately familiar with Chekhov to have fun at “Vanya….” Indeed, unfamiliarity may actually be an advantage. There is a temptation to absorb so many references to the Chekhov originals in the Durang play that “Vanya….” could turn into an audience party game with the viewer trying to identify all the hidden and not so hidden references to the Russian master, taking the risk of mentally drowning out the actual play on the Goodman stage. And credit Durang with steering his comedy away the precipice of nudge nudge wink wink camp humor. Whatever its defects, the play is often clever and witty and many spectators will find it funnier than I did. By any measuring stick it’s at least 20 minutes too long but I wouldn’t delete a second of Ross Lehman’s Vanya’s monologue, a magical moment in contemporary Chicagoland theater."
The Fourth Walsh - Somewhat Recommended
"...I liked VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE very much! I just didn't love it. The conflicts aren't meaty. It's not a meal of sustenance. It's more like having dessert for dinner. But in the lazy, hazy days of summer, who doesn't just want to have ice cream for supper?"
