Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...The classic struggle for the soul of a boy between his flawed but loving father and an opportunistic Svengali grows creaky in Povod's overwritten bildungsroman, but Marilyn Camacho's go-for-the-gut staging reveals the thwarted promise of both Povod and his characters. St. Angelo in particular delivers a riveting quicksilver performance, holding the audience in thrall even as some power outages in the first act interrupted the flow of the action. Martinez is an alluring, pansexual presence, and Hank Hilbert's Jackie, Cuba's hapless friend and partner-in-dope, nails the tension-breaking laugh lines."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The play sold out when it ran on Broadway 23 years ago, perhaps because the cast featured Robert De Niro and Ralph Macchio. In this UrbanTheater Company/People's Theater of Chicago coproduction directed by Marilyn Camacho, ponderous pacing prevents a talented cast from achieving much forward momentum, let alone dramatic urgency, for the better part of three long hours."
Windy City Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...This brand of lurid face-in-the-grit fable has been a staple of popular fiction for centuries, but the late Reinaldo Povod savors his nothing-held-back confessional with the relish characteristic of ghetto-bred playwrights doomed to die young—in this case, of AIDS at age 34—while still enmeshed in the throes of splenetic anguish, never to learn the value of editing as a tool to reconfiguring telenovela-length yarns to the restrictions of live performance. But if the thoroughness with which Povod portrays Teddy's childhood mentors makes for a long night, it also renders each potentially-stereotypical character refreshingly and three-dimensionally complex."
Chicago Free Press
- Recommended
"... Povad’s genius is never in doubt and director Marilyn Camacho works naturally and persuasively with her talented cast. Despite some pacing issues, Madrid St. Angelo delivers a miraculous and transformative performance as Cuba. Christian Kain Blackburn (Teddy,) Hank Hilbert (Jackie) and Ivan Vega (Redlights) also shine with subtlety and humor—with all hopefully bringing a renewed interest in underappreciated Povad’s life and work."
EpochTimes
- Highly Recommended
"...This is a powerful story filled with powerful performances. St. Angelo and Blackburn had the father-son chemistry that makes it feel real.They take us deep into the souls of these characters, stripping away that facade they have created for each other. Hilbert, as the sidekick has all the comic lines and in some cases, where tension is so high one might think the actors will explode, he brings them down to reality/"
Centerstage
- Somewhat Recommended
"...While the second act boasted more action than the first, and director Marilyn Camacho's tableaus struck a chord, it would behoove her to have trimmed the two-and-a-half-hour production, and toned down Hank Hilbert. As the inane, offensive Jackie, Hilbert mugged his way through the production, comic relief at its most base. Speaking of baseness, although familiar with the concept that a character may, for the sake of plot and drama, speak lines the playwright himself does not endorse, I can see no justification for the racist, anti-Semitic, sexist vitriol the characters mouthed."
Chicago Stage Review
- Recommended
"...UrbanTheater Company and PEOPLE*S THEATER of Chicago deliver a powerful Midwest premiere of Reinaldo Povod’s Cuba and His Teddy Bear. Delving deep into a dark world, Povod’s script is inhabited by richly developed and despondently damaged characters that move about in a bleak reality. Survival drives them to desperate measures but humanity connects them to each other, albeit in dysfunctional ways."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...
Unfortunately, Che and other breaths of fresh air appear only in cameos. The rest of the show demonstrates far less verve. The first act consists mostly of Cuba and sidekick Jackie sniffing coke and trading barbs with Teddy. Frequently dropped cues make this the rare coke binge whose participants are at a loss for words. Camacho’s direction picks up in the high-stakes second act, but by that point the script has devolved into an extended father-son battle. Povod struggles to finish things with a bang, and the results—including a wondrous recovery from a gunshot to the head—would baffle if they didn’t stultify."
ChicagoCritic
- Recommended
"...The intense, in-your-face acting from St. Angelo, Martinez and Blackburn captured the angst and dysfunctional personal traits of their characters. As I stated earlier, Cuba and His Teddy Bear sure came close to brilliance but the wordy, over long first act and the uneven pace cooled the building of dramatic tension. However, there is much to admire in this ambitious wrenching world of depressed losers. Kudos to The People’s Theater and UrbanTheater Company for mounting such raw theatre."
Chicago Theater Beat
- Recommended
"...The biggest flaw with the production is the length – the playwright’s ambitious script packs so much material in two and a half hours that the weight begins to slow down the pace and lessens the casts energy. The show could use about a half hour of cutting, but the ensemble that director Marilyn Camancho has assembled captures the gritty intensity of Povod’s script, resulting in a chilling examination of father-son and dealer-junkie dynamics."
