Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...So sure, it's called "Born Yesterday." But Garson Kanin's 1946 comedy might as well be an episode of "The Daily Show" for all its applications to our own topsy-turvy times. Then again, a cynic might point out that Americans have always enjoyed all the democracy they can afford."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Garson Kanin's 1946 comedy crackles with sharp-witted dialogue, smartly drawn characters, and almost painfully fresh relevance in Remy Bumppo Theatre Company's timely revival."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Director David Darlow's rejection of old-school stereotypes is also evident in his casting in the role of Harry-not a replica of the robber-baron caricature providing the model for insecure real-life arrivistes to this day-with Sean Michael Sullivan, whose imposing height invokes the requisite menac,e even as his wiry physique and sinewy countenance bespeak the early poverty fueling Harry's dog-eat-dog world view. Nostalgic playgoers are free to revel in the rom-com chemistry of Eliza Stoughton and Greg Matthew Anderson, sturdy character turns by Shawn Douglass and Brian Parry, and a score of vintage big-band hits assembled by Christopher Kriz-but our takeaway for 2017 is that our future lies in the enlightenment of the Harry Brocks as well as the Billie Dawns."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Wising up the audience as well, Remy Bumppo’s worthy revival delivers 135 minutes of hilarious redemption. We revel in an old-fashioned well-made comedy whose craftsmanship Darlow honors with rambunctious results. Stoughton and Anderson are the sweetest odd couple to ever meet cute and stay real. Snarling Sullivan is the archetypal bad guy to more than earn a classic comeuppance. Douglass’s degradation is a 2oth-century version of the Bard’s “First, kill all the lawyers.” You leave the Greenhouse Theater Center thinking maybe democracy can be saved piecemeal even if it seems lost wholesale."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Featuring an impressive set (designed by Grant Dabin), Garson Kanin's 1946 dark comedy Born Yesterday is a timely cautionary tale about internal threats to our democracy from corrupt businessmen. (sounds familiar?) Kanin's clever structured story involves a boorish, crude and loudmouthed millionaire junk dealer who descends on Washington, DC just after World War II to bribe a US Senator in a scheme to salvage all the junk metal (from tanks, trucks, and cannons) in Europe scattered around France Belgium and Germany."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...Born Yesterday was seamlessly directed by David Darlow, with a lovely set design by Grant Sabin. However, close and detailed attention must be paid to the acting company of this show. If ever there was a moment to question all of your talents and abilities, it’s sitting in this audience watching Eliza Stoughton give a subtle, hilarious, and charming performance as Billie Dawn."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Brilliant! That would be my definition if someone were to ask me to describe the current Remy Bumppo production- "Born Yesterday", Garson Kanin's honest look at just how strange and strained politics in our country is. The play was written just after the second World War, when The United States was going thru major transitions. The "BIG" one as it was called, caused endless authors and playwrights to seek change and answers for what we had been experiencing. After the war, our country was experiencing a new economic "high" and people who could were seeking ways to take advantage, regardless of the trail they might leave behind."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...The show also looks and sounds as great as it plays. Grant Sabin’s luxurious, palatial hotel suite is pretty, polished and period-perfect, as are the sumptuous costumes fashioned by Izumi Inaba. Christopher Kriz has created a delicious aural palette of sound, including an array of 40’s classic hits, along with his own original music. Michael Rourke takes us through the evening and into late night and early morning, with his sensitive lighting design. In addition to the many wall sconces that dot the hotel room, watch how Rourke subtly paints the sun setting through the hotel picture window."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"..."Born Yesterday" is an expert merging of comedy, satire, romance, and a cautionary tale of what can happen to a society if the people aren't vigilant against the dangers of unscrupulous people allowed to corrupt the body politic. Some viewers may view the play as a topical message about the state of America's political affairs today. I think that is a stretch but it does offer a chewy topic for post curtain discussion. Verrall's call for eternal vigilance in preserving the American democratic way of life from bad guys polluting the democratic process may or may not have relevance to the current state of our national affairs. But everyone should agree that "Born Yesterday" is still a comedy that works for today's viewers and Remy Bumppo has done it proud."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Garson Kanin's play, first produced in 1946, has kept its political edge and its celebration of one of the great female characters of the theater. Billie Dawn. Eliza Stoughton does justice to Billie's character as she evolves through the two-and-a-quarter hour play to be much more than a dizzy blonde. She is smart, stubborn and spirited. Sean Sullivan pulls off the Harry Brock characterization as a working-class guy in a bespoke suit. Anderson is endearing as the intellectual thrown into Harry's world."
PlaylistHQ - Highly Recommended
"...If witty barbs delivered by a sharply dressed cast is your thing, Born Yesterday is for you. This absorbing play takes the audience to Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of World War II, where Harry Brock and his girlfriend Billie Dawn are moving up in the world, thanks to Harry's shady business dealings."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...The inescapable feeling that Harry Brock is like a Trump without a Bannon is sufficient context to make the play timely. However, Born Yesterday certainly works better when considered as being in conversation with other recent Chicago productions exploring, for example, an overly powerful editorialist or a gangster with political ambitions. Our city's theatre community is certainly doing their part to contribute to our political conversation, and Remy Bumppo's reminder of the impact an education can have on someone is an important part of that"
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Born Yesterday" by Garson Kanin is maybe the most quintessentially theatrical piece of theater I've ever seen: six white men talking about politics and democratic ideals with heavy continental, Jersey and Southern accents and a blond waif who cries when a man implies she's thirty, all contained within a plush pink penthouse that costs $235 a night while drinking maybe as much in whiskey."
