Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...The other problem with the Chicago staging is that the rehearsal setting does not mean that theatricality has to be put aside. We're in the same light cue for pretty much the entire show, which gives you a sense of unglamorous grind, for sure, but at the expense of amplified artistic interest. This isn't an easy piece to pull off: the show requires everyone to be over each other, but still sufficiently enamored of the artistic life, and of each other, that the loss they are facing feels real. The production has some strengths, including Holland's vocal performance and a whole cast of very capable actors and musicians, but somehow the actual band practice, the reality-style rubric of the show, drowns out too much of the pain in the room."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Director Tyrone Phillips and music director John Cicora shepherd the drama through Vargas' music, each song tearing another layer from the emotional defenses the band members have nurtured for years. There are least two moments in "33 to Nothing" that'll make you want to whip out a lighter, click on the flame and wave it skyward."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...This play with music features eight original songs written by Varjas with exuberant music direction by John Cicora, and they give the show a concert feel that elevates an otherwise traditional drama about artists in their 30s struggling to hold on to their dreams. It isn't a groundbreaking plot, but this team explores it with a blend of subtlety and verve that highlights the complexity of the characters' relationships with each other and their music."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...The show’s best moment comes toward the end when Gray is finally convinced to play a track that isn’t entirely his own. They decide to play an old song, one that Gray wrote with Tyler, his longtime BFF, for their first album. All the melodrama and self-flagellation present in the songs we’ve heard so far is gone. Suddenly, the characters are playing an ass-kicking, up-tempo party anthem."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Learning to let go, to accept that people change and move on to other things, is a part of life. This play, with original music performed with style and flair by a talented cast, is Grant James Varjas' metaphor, an ode to how friends deal with the passage of time. It's directed with passion and sensitivity by Tyrone Phillips and performed by a gifted cast of triple threats. As adulthood calls each of these young people, audiences will find themselves empathizing and recalling the pang of how the calendar ticks off the days in everyone's march toward mortality. If only time could stand still!"
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Somewhat Recommended
"...As a theatrical experience, A Red Orchid Theatre's 33 to Nothing is worth the watch for both the acting and musical chops of its performers and offers an engaging and visceral evening's entertainment, just not a piece that leaves audiences thinking about it for weeks to come."
Chicago On Stage - Somewhat Recommended
"...Overall the shows worth a watch even if you do have to fight for parking in Old Town. It is not perfect but it does make for an entertaining night of theater. And hey, at least the queer community is getting some sort of representation."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Residing somewhere between musical and straight play is this refreshing and incredibly entertaining production of 33 TO NOTHING. If you like music or have ever had a complicated relationship with friends or lovers (basically if you’re a human being) you will find joy in this beautifully written show - as this writer certainly did."
NewCity Chicago - Not Recommended
"...With so little on the line dramatically and so much working against it, “33 to Nothing” becomes a showcase solely for the interdisciplinary talents of its ensemble. However, as anyone in the business of making art will tell you, talent is not enough. Purpose and motivation are what drive artists out beyond the county line of reason, leaving friends and loved ones, nine-to-fives and credit scores in the rear-view. Success validates the risks that artists take. In its absence, a swell of melancholy and disillusion can arise. “33 to Nothing” captures this sensation well, but without the contrast of collective pride in chances taken and ambitions, however modest, brought to fruition, the result feels lopsidedly cynical."
