Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"..."Dawn, Quixote," conceived and directed by Montgomery and developed, as usual, with the six-member ensemble (Gabriel Franken, Michael Hamilton, Chelsea Keenan, Kate Suffern, Anne Walaszek and Nathan Wonder), follows a similar blueprint to most of the other Building Stage shows I've seen over the years. Cervantes' senescent man-who-would-be-knight is portrayed at various points by all the cast members, who take the stage sporting black doublets and breeches and gray wigs and whiskers."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...All the expected moments unfold - the mistaken love for Dulcinea, the tilting at windmills thought to be giants, the countless rebukes and injuries, the loyal service of Sancho Panza, the final moments when madness and fantasy cede to reality and death. It is inspired, smart and touching, but it is zaniness that rules."
Centerstage
- Recommended
"...Despite Don Quixote's inevitable defeat, "Dawn Quixote" provides a more optimistic message than Cervantes' original text. It stresses the importance of overcoming failure and challenges the perception of the word 'failure' in general. It's quite easy to recognize the parallels being intimated between the journey of Don Quixote and that of The Building Stage, the adventures and the perseverance in the name of love, art and perhaps a bit of folly. Overall, "Dawn, Quixote" is as intimate, inspiring and insane as The Building Stage itself, making it an unfortunate, yet fitting, farewell."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Thus with an eclectic display of props and relics from The Building Stage's past shows stacked high on shelves, price tags cheekily displayed (yes, they are available for purchase), Dawn, Quixote fittingly gestures towards its theater's own imminent closure. And absolving itself of the obligation to make final declarative gestures or to resolve arbitrarily in some contrived catharsis, Dawn, Quixote-true to the spirit of comedy-prefers instead to go on forever. The daily struggles of our quotidian failures and disappointments may not be redeemable by any high-minded sense of nobility or even importance. But as our six Don Quixotes so astutely remind us, at least we'll be together. And at least it'll be fun. Indeed."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow
- Highly Recommended
"...This show is smart and potentially hilarious. Unfortunately, it's hard to laugh at it. In reverence to the great work produced by The Building Stage, I feel chuckling at the misfortunes of an idealist rude. Surrounded by the ghosts of productions' past, DAWN, QUIXOTE is like going to an Irish wake sober. Despite the playful nature of this high-energy showcase, I'm haunted by the finality of it all."
