Chicago Tribune
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Once the show finally settles down, you do find yourself identifying quite strongly with Lulu, played with warmth and honesty by Delgado, and willing for her happiness and her escape from her past. Cruz is a sophisticated writer, so this is not just a learn-to-be-yourself primer, but a look at how the past makes us what we are and, try as we might, can hold us back from our future. In this instance, though, you can’t quite believe in either."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Like Sonia Sotomayor, who now appears destined for a seat on the Supreme Court, playwright Migdalia Cruz is a "wise Latina" from the Bronx -- a first-generation Puerto Rican immigrant born in the 1950s. And while I haven't seen the writer's byline on any major op-ed page weighing in on the judge, her play, "El Grito del Bronx" ("The Cry from the Bronx") --now storming the stage of the Goodman's Owen Theatre in a joint world premiere production by Collaboraction and Teatro Vista --suggests the two widely divergent paths that could lead from the mean streets of that New York borough."
Windy City Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...All that good stuff having been said, this is a new play in its first production and Cruz still has some work to do on the script. The play is about Jesus/Papo and what makes him tick—Lulu wants to know how her gentle brother could kill 18 men—but the crucial piece is missing. The leap from killing one's abusive father to turning mass murderer is not automatic or obvious. Cruz hints at racial aspects—Papo kills only white men, Lulu is subjected to stereotyping—but she doesn't fully explore this ( which is just as well ) nor make the racial connection for Papo."
Centerstage
- Recommended
"...Dealing with racism and struggling to live in violent communities is not for the squeamish. Neither is the intense and wildly surreal drama "El Grito Del Bronx," which portrays a Puerto Rican family's life in the South Bronx in harrowing detail. El Grito Del Bronx translates to "the Bronx scream" and it's an apt title for the play. Filled with blood, fear and haunting memories, this joint production between Teatro Vista and Collaboraction delivers a startling perspective about letting go of the past and moving toward the future."
- Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...If Cruz’s poeticism can be somewhat bewildering in the moment—the storytelling is as sparing as the symbolism is overbearing—Moseley’s gorgeous production, featuring a striking multitiered set by Regina Garcia and masterful lighting by Jeremy Getz, captivates with an adept 15-person cast. We’re still not sure we buy all of Cruz’s narrative leaps, but her scattered story manages to enthrall nonetheless."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Anthony Moseley has assembled a powerhouse of a cast for this production. Sandra Delgado leads the ensemble as Lulu, a young woman who carries the guilt of her brother’s violence inside. Her shame over her brother’s crimes, her guilt over her own innocent connection to those events, and her fear that she is just like him will not allow her to accept that she deserves ever to be happy. Juan Villa plays her adult brother, known is Papo, who is dying of AIDS on a federal death row in Ohio. Josh Odor is Ed, her Connecticut reporter boyfriend who wants only to marry her and lives to make her happy. The chemistry between Delgado and her two very different men creates empathy that allows the supporting roles to soar. The result is as fine an ensemble effort as you are likely to see for a long time to come."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...While there may not be a Latinofest at The Goodman this summer, one couldn't ask for more than what they are giving us right now. In the Albert the wonderful "Bolero," and now in the Owen a marvelous World Premiere of playwright Migdalia Cruz's "El Grito Del Bronx", a powerful character study of a brother and sister and the cause and effect of how they were raised as children. This production is a Collaboraction and Teatro Vista joint venture with the Goodman and a true collaboration of two different and unique theater companies working with a strong playwright in bringing this work to the stage here in Chicago."
