Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...At the Goodman, "Father Comes Home" is directed by Niegel Smith, the artistic director of the Flea Theater in New York. This must-see Chicago production in the Owen Theatre truly is a remarkable feat of direction, notable for its maintenance of total truth and for its application of counterbalancing consistency to an intentionally deconstructive and eclectic piece of writing. Parks' writing is, by turn, classic in form, freewheeling, lyrical, humorous and agonizing, and its content ranges from scenes to monologues to the inner thoughts of a talking dog."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...That combination of thematic depth, structural ambition, and lyricism - and, importantly, plenty of humor too - makes the Odyssey-inspired "Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)," now onstage at the Goodman in a smoothly grand production directed by Niegel Smith - a rich, powerful experience."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...The past is always present and vice versa in "Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)," now making a startling and extremely moving Chicago debut at the Goodman Theatre."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...The performances are universally strong; every gesture and glance add to the whole. Kamal Angelo Bolden and Almé Donna Kelly are particularly compelling as Ulysses and Penny, and BrittneyLove Smith is very winning as the faithful dog."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Smith, his design team and a uniformly outstanding cast—led by Bolden in a performance so emotionally naked he might as well be flayed—make Parks’s words sing like Gabriel’s horn announcing judgement day. Only not quite. Because Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) is doing something else; it’s calling up the ghosts of a thousand judgement days past, a long chain of them, four centuries’ worth, a history told in promises made and broken."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...Kamal Angelo Bolden cuts an imposing figure as Hero, looked up to by his fellow slaves and devoted to his rather mercurial master. Yet Hero also harbors a dark and awful secret that will come to light with devastating consequences - another Greek twist in this tale of seeming triumph."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...The plays' most potent ingredient comes at the start but is never followed up. It's the question of choice. By fighting to deny it to his fellow-slaves can Hero win any true freedom? In Parks' busy play, treason takes many shapes: Exasperatingly or not, she refuses to nail down its causes. She'd rather examine its effects. After 200 minutes, we deserve more."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Highly Recommended
"...Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks graces us with her masterpiece "Father Comes Home from The Wars: Part 1, 2 & 3;" a play that refreshes the soul with pure delight. Parks playwright composition is as poignant today as it was in the past as it connects us as humans as well as separate us from humanity."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...Niegel Smith, a New York-based director, has mixed the tone and rhythm of the production as meticulously and mischievously as Parks (a Pulitzer Prize-winner for "Topdog/Underdog"), has mixed the ideas in her play. And Chicago blues balladeer and guitarist Melody Angel brings a Tracy Chapman-like quality to her role as a one-woman chorus, with music and sound by Justin Ellington (plus one song by the playwright herself)."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...With the many moods, styles, and narrative twists and turns that make up "Father Comes Home from the Wars," the trilogy makes engrossing watching. More than three hours is not excessive for a show that includes so much lyrical writing in the service of a challenging and thoughtful set of ideas. Bring on the next trilogy! Maybe the next one will explain the meaning of this trilogy's title. Finally, cheers to the Goodman management for setting such low ticket prices for so much quality theater."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Running more than three hours, including two 15-minute intermissions, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, and 3) is an ancient epic on American themes. Part historical fiction, part epic poem, Smith’s production illustrates the inventiveness of a playwright as well as the impressive work of a cast wholly committed to the story they are telling. Featuring music from Chicago blues musician Melody Angel, the overall evening is a rewarding reminder of the potential of the American theater."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Director Niegel Smith has more than enough balls to juggle in this production, both in tone and in characters, and the fact that it all holds together so well is a tribute to both Parks' brilliant script and Smith's steady hand in directing. Courtney O'Neill's set design incorporates the Confederate Stars and Bars so that we can't ever forget the play's focus and what hangs in the balance...as if such a thing were possible. Keith Parham's lighting and Justin Ellington's sound design and original music are perfect: this is a beautiful play as well as a powerful one."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...It is the riveting, highly-charged performance of Kamal Angelo Bolden's Hero that churns mightily throughout while Jaime Lincoln Smith's resonate Homer and the impassioned performance of Aime Donna Kelly as Penny are capitivating. Dick and Demetrios Troy's Smith propel Hero's journey in Part 2 and provide the most chilling and acerbic views of what it is to be white, own property and place race at the center of the argument. Watching this unfold and leading the way is the Musician, a superb crossover performance from Chicago blues artist Melody Angel. The exceptional cast includes Ernest Perry, Jr (Oldest Old Man) and BrittanyLove Smith, perfect as man's best friend, of which there are few in this darkly rich introduction to what is sure to be a much-talked-about epic trilogy... only at Goodman through June 24th, and then the journey continues elsewhere."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...The subject matter, not surprisingly is serious and at times challenging to watch unfold. With a backdrop of the Civil War, conversations about slavery and beatings are expected. However, Parks is careful to include a dark comedy within the script that almost becomes necessary, and acts as a small release that helps the audience remain engaged, which Director Niegel Smith skillfully weaves into his tense and dark production."
