Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...All seven performances here compel (Atkins is especially on fire), and the set from Linda Buchanan is an epic piece of design, rooted in the sanctuary of a house that a descendant of Caesar’s tries to knock down in the 1990s in “Radio Golf,” but also recalling the ships that forged the City of Bones, antecedent of America."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...“Gem of the Ocean” is the first in a ten-play saga of Black Americans throughout the 20th century by the late American playwright August Wilson. These extraordinary tales are all set in a working-class Pittsburgh neighborhood known as the Hill District, where Wilson himself was born. It took the Pulitzer Prize-winning author more 30 years to complete the entire project, and although the works can certainly stand alone as individual plays, Wilson’s Century Cycle really constitutes a massive poem that charts the path of Black Americans out of the Civil War South and into the modern era."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...But the genius of Wilson, which Smith (who served as dramaturg for the Goodman's 2003 world premiere of Gem) understands well, is that his characters exist in several places simultaneously: past and present, myth and reality, cities of bones and cities, like Pittsburgh in 1904, of steel and blood and turmoil. And all those places matter."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...August Wilson's prologue to what would later be dubbed his "Century Cycle"-a series of 10 plays chronicling the progress (and too-frequent setbacks) of the African-Americans populating Pittsburgh's Hill District from 1904 to 1997-has been whittled down since premiering at the Goodman Theatre in 2003, its performance time now clocking in at three hours. If that seems excessive in light of current pandemic-related protocols, audiences will be relieved to discover the cast assembled by director Chuck Smith exhibits slow-burning stamina, enabling them to sustain a brisk pace while never rushing the urgency of a resolution as satisfying as it is inevitable."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...This is a marvelously peopled “Gem of the Ocean,” down to A.C. Smith as Aunt Ester’s longtime friend and confidant Eli and Gary Houston as a peddler of pots and pans who figures in the play’s bleakest turn. Designer Linda Buchanan’s homey set, with its slats suggesting the hull of a boat, feels very much like another timeless character. All told, a gem indeed, and a powerful inducement to seek out the other nine plays in Wilson’s voyage across the century."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...It is impressive to note there are multiple productions playing right now in Chicago with largely Black casts and creative teams to choose from. The strongest of them is now open at the Goodman Theatre, where Ocean shines bright. 180 minutes-plus in a mask wasn't a problem for the sold-out crowd I attended with. COVID-19 pandemic mask mandates and proof of vaccination are still required and kudos to the eagle-eyed ushers for being on top of the audience members not in accordance to the very publicized rules and regulations. As for the drama unfolding on the stage, Ocean was simply sublime."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Recommended
"...Goodman's Gem of the Ocean starts slowly to the point where many seem indifferent and incurious; however, the ending scene sparked their curiosity before intermission. The pace increases in the second half of this three-hour and fifteen-minute play, highlighted by an astounding City of Bones performance. Goodman imaging featuring the faces of enslaved people who drowned floating from the walls was magnificent."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...This production is powerful with a cast that understands Wilson’s words. Sharpley directed by Chuck Smith ( who was part of the original production ) on an outstanding set by Linda Buchanan, we are in Pittsburgh. The area is known as the Hill District, and if you look closely as each person arrives or leaves through the front door of the house, we see them going up the stairs to the level that is street level. Very cleverly done and I would think many will not notice, but I look at detail in every production. The year is 1904 and while slavery is over, there are remnants that will remain with many for the rest of their lives."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...Of course it is Wilson's remarkable use of language - alternately poetic, musical, mythic, cynical, romantic, comic, angry, philosophical and spiritual - that drives "Gem," as well as the nine other plays in his renowned, award-winning Pittsburgh Cycle. And Smith and his cast have served that language and Wilson's extraordinary insight into human nature to stunning effect."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Told within Linda Buchanan’s towering, two-story scenic design, with its awesome, blue-gray shiplap walls, this is an immaculately acted, directed and artistically produced production, one that August Wilson would’ve been proud to bear his name. Be warned that it’s a long play, over three hours with intermission; but the time flies by, as you become caught up in these characters and their respective stories. Alternately told in quiet, leisurely strokes, filled with humanity, and seasoned with high drama and supernatural surrealism, with just a soupcon of humor and whimsy, this stunning play is a classic. It moves audiences to understand and truly feel the rigorous, ongoing journey to freedom for its African-American characters. This is definitely a production that should not be missed."
Buzznews.net - Recommended
"...Performances are humorous and complex. Lisa Gaye Dixon fills the space with her enchanting presence, but it's Sydney Charles in the meeker role of Black Mary who is equally captivating. Charles has an impressive voice and an ageless sense of vulnerability and humor. The two share a contagious chemistry. It wouldn't be an August Wilson play in Chicago without A.C. Smith though, his hulking appearance and effortless comedy help maintain August Wilson's balance."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Pittsburgh is in turmoil due to the recent theft of a bucket of nails from the town’s mill, and a resulting death during the chase. Mary’s brother Caesar (Kelvin Roston Jr.) is the power-hungry police officer who hassles everyone over that crime and more. Under Chuck Smith’s direction, Eli begins the production by cleaning his rifle, so the violence to follow is a foregone conclusion. The blue timbers of the set, designed by Linda Buchanan, are interspersed with spaces of equal size as they disappear into the rafters, also supporting the theme of tenuous, murky architecture within these lives."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...There is both dazzling beauty and gritty realism in the Chuck Smith directed production of August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” that opened on Monday at Goodman. Set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh in 1904, chronologically the first in Wilson’s Century Cycle series although written and produced two years before his death at 60 in 2005. “Gem” premiered at Goodman Theatre in 2003 and debuted on Broadway a year later."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The word “epic” has been worn thin by overuse and misuse. But August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean”— Part I of the late playwright’s ten-part “Century Cycle” opus—fully merits the adjective. And this topnotch production draws every drop of meaning from Wilson’s deep, rich and powerful script."
