Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...The Joffrey Ballet's "Frankenstein" has everything you want for the spooky season: a gothic setting, sci-fi wizardry, a dash of hedonism, death and destruction and gasp-worthy shock value. Throw in the Joffrey's exquisite dancers, a world-renowned design team and the masterful late choreographer Liam Scarlett, and it's not hard to see why missing "Frankenstein" during its two-weekend run at the Lyric Opera House is not an option."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...In his unexpected and perhaps unlikely adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous 1818 novel “Frankenstein,” choreographer Liam Scarlett showed it could be so much more — dark, menacing, even shocking, yet still beautiful and alluring."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...Please, as we move into this dark season, go see this thrilling work of living (and not yet dead) art. It is long for a ballet– nearly three hours but you really don’t want it to end because 1) you can tell what is going to happen and it won’t be happy and 2) the dancing is magnificent. "
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...We all grew up with the understanding that "Frankenstein" was a monster. The story, created by Mary Shelley, goes back to the 1800's and was written to win a contest for best horror story. In reality, the monster is, in fact, a monster and was created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein, but over the years, most of us tend to refer to the monster as "Frankenstein". Tonight, I attended the Chicago "premiere" of Liam Scarlett's ballet, "Frankenstein" at The Lyric Opera. Attending with me, was my granddaughter, Caitlin, who is truly a lover of scary stories and movies, and yet had never been exposed to the ballet. She was witness to a magnificent production and a twist of the story that we know will surprise you completely."
WTTW
- Highly Recommended
"...Over the years there have been countless interpretations of "Frankenstein," Mary Shelley's extraordinary 1818 Gothic novel (subtitled "The Modern Prometheus," for the Greek god of fire). But the Joffrey Ballet's production of the story that opened Thursday evening on the stage of the Lyric Opera House - the work of the masterful British choreographer Liam Scarlett, set to a richly dramatic original score by Lowell Lieberman - might very well be its most stunning interpretation yet."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...The Joffrey Ballet adaptation of Mary Shelley's landmark novel Frankenstein, now in its Chicago premiere at the Lyric Opera, should not come as a surprise to anyone, given that this ballet received its world premiere at London's Royal Opera House back in 2016. Still, it's a little startling to contemplate the notion that anyone could have ever concocted such an esoteric production and managed to pull it off successfully. Even after seeing it, I was still left wondering whether it ever even did make sense or could make sense to produce a ballet about the mad ambition of an inadvertent monster maker."
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...In the two hundred (and five) years since Mary Shelley jolted to life her eponymous mad scientist and his monster and set them loose, Frankenstein has invaded just about every cross-section of culture. Motion pictures, of course. And literature. Sitcoms and cereal. And, based on the late Liam Scarlett's production of the romantic novelist's tale, now "Frankenstein" has found the stage of the Joffrey Ballet for a beautiful reimagining of the heartbroken doctor and the heartbroken creature he creates, one that embraces Shelley's gothic 19th century original."
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...The Joffrey Ballet has opened the 2023-24 season with the highly anticipated Chicago Premiere of Liam Scarlett’s Frankenstein. Based on Mary Shelley’s 19th-century novel-turned-pop culture classic, this ambitious production features sensational choreography, costumes, special effects, pyrotechnics and an original score."
