Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...There's a manically chummy narrator, audience plants, broad comedy, and daily-affirmation-style wisdom. While the result can be amusing at times, it's also overbearing, with notes of condescension. The starkest passage is the best: Everybody standing by her grave, getting deserted by Beauty, Strength, the Mind, and the Senses. That's death."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...This is a lot of metaphysical punch to pack into a mere 90 minutes, extended by inter-episode vocal montages as Everybody attempts to diagram the progress of the metamorphosis under way. Under the direction of Erin Shea Brady, the nine-member ensemble led by Chelsea David as the Almighty-in-usher-uniform ( complete with Saints badge ), discharge their tasks-ranging from quasi-balletic terpsichore set to Saint-Saens "Danse Macabre" to a nearly-nude exercise workout-with unflagging energy and aplomb. Since the cast assignments change with every performance, repeat viewings are encouraged. Who knows? You might emerge a little wiser in your own lifestyle choices for the experience."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Go see Everybody. But when you leave, don't be afraid to ask for more from this city's theatre artists and institutions. If Branden Jacobs-Jenkins can drag the morality play into the modern age, surely the Chicago theatre scene can drag itself out of the '70s and into 2018."
Stage and Cinema
- Somewhat Recommended
"...In any case, however cunning and convincing the staging by Erin Shea Brady, Everybody is, for better or worse, a comically hip, multi-winking “meta” piece fit for the present. It doesn’t exactly trivialize Everyman but its know-it-all irreverence, especially when repeatedly throwing the audience’s inevitable deaths in their collective face (the “incoming tide”), takes its toll. By play’s end you taste your mortality big time. You won’t need to bungee-jump for quite some time."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...Everybody follows the same storyline as its medieval predecessor, with similar characters and actions. Jacobs-Jenkins, who wrote Appropriate, Gloria and An Octoroon, is considered one of today’s leading young playwrights. Everybody is hip and witty and seems a bit interactive and improvisational, although fully scripted."
Picture This Post
- Recommended
"...While some could argue that this script doesn’t quite reach the highs of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octaroon or Gloria, there are still just enough breadcrumbs for his most diehard fans to recognize his work. If nothing else, it’s kind of cool to go multiple times to see how different actors handle different roles. There quite a few gems in this ensemble and anybody could be Everybody on any given day."
