Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...All of that said, I didn't think some of the younger actors achieved the same kind of vulnerability that was so powerful on Broadway - the lead performer, Kiah Stern, is a young newcomer with oodles of talent but a ways yet to go when it comes to really driving a production with her own fears and desires. And this new staging, which chooses not to mine the metaphor of the same proscenium arch abiding through two different eras, doesn't fully capture the sheer weightiness and weariness of the theatrical process."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The cast is uniformly excellent, and Griffin's production particularly excels at two key moments.
It's just plain perfect when actors Darlow and Cindy Gold, as the brothel owner and his wife,
repeatedly perform the last moment of "God of Vengeance" in quick succession, growing in the
degree of melodrama they express. It's all so compact, communicative, and amusing."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...In Griffin's staging, grand, beautifully blocked stage pictures give way to quiet, devastating moment of realism, like the cast breaking and sharing what little bread they have before putting on a show in an attic in occupied Poland. And yet the actors display humor and self-deprecation in the face of hopeless despair. "If our performance does not please you," announces stage mananger Lemml (Benjamin Magnuson), "please throw food! Kugel? Rugelach, anyone?""
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Vogel packs a lot of chronicle into 100 minutes, so audience members feeling a step or two behind the text are not alone. Virtuoso director Gary Griffin and an ensemble of agile actors drawn from many sources are quick to assist us in catching up whenever the sprawling narrative and swift pace threaten to render us dizzy with vertigo. If this whirlwind time-travel journey served no purpose beyond introducing Yiddish Theater ( other than S. Ansky's The Dybbuk ) to the classroom curriculum, however, it would still be a timely lesson, worthy of our attention today."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The first play in Vogel’s long and distinguished career to appear on Broadway, the 2017 drama Indecent is both an exaltation of Asch’s work and a sober reckoning with the forces that fought to destroy it. Cramming half a century of history into a dizzying 100 minutes, Indecent uses songs (mostly in Yiddish) and metatheatrical flourishes to push it towards the finish line."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Recommended
"...Directed by award-winner Gary Griffin returns to Victory Gardens and provides the audience with a very subtle reminder of the history of how taboo plays can be in the 1900's and how people reacted to the hidden and forbidden loves that the world wanted to remain as secrets in life. Vogel and Griffin open the door to how the more things changed, the more they stay the same with how society reacts to worldly love."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...This is a play that depicts theatrical history, and the beauty of the art of story-telling. No matter what you think about the underlying topic, this is something that is real and has as much meaning today as it did 100 years ago."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This is an historically important play, flavored with authentic music, that still resonates today. In a nation that's being continually challenged by a government seeking to eliminate women's rights and the freedoms won by the LGBT community, while making those from other cultures and religions appear to be our enemies, this play feels particularly contemporary. It could've been written about the America of today, rather than the early 20th century. As its characters, words and music reverberate with adult audiences, theatergoers will leave the Victory Gardens Theatre having experienced a gorgeous, powerful work that celebrates its theatricality."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...There are a few Yiddish words scattered throughout the script, the playbill providing a selected glossary. But as the saying goes, you don’t have to be Jewish to be entertained by the play and find it meaningful and informative. The show won’t pole ax the viewer with raw emotion, but the audience should be moved. Hopefully, some enterprising theater will take on “God of Vengeance” for a full revival. Vogel has supplied bits and scenes but “Indecent” proves that there may be a neglected hit in the Asch original."
Rescripted - Highly Recommended
"...Overall, direction under Gary Griffin is breathtakingly beautiful, particularly in the moments of the show where performance and spectacle unite, to give the audience perfectly timed and visually stunning stage pictures. The playing space was utilized effectively throughout the play. The transitions from scene to scene were seamless and hit just the right notes with the musical accompaniment by Elleon Dobias and Matt Deitchman."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...Gary Griffin has become synonymous with bringing edgy Broadway hits to Chicago. 2016’s Hand to God was regarded by some as better than the original New York production, and last year’s Fun Home brought back the intimacy of Broadway’s in-the-round interpretation. Vogel’s latest was not only nominated for Tony Awards, but was screened nationwide on PBS. Just as with Hand to God and Fun Home, Griffin strikes the precise balance between edgy and heartwrenching, presenting a story of underdogs who stay precisely that, thanks to the prejudice that still reigns supreme in contemporary society."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Indecent blends time-jumping scenes with an occasional dance routine and klezmer-flavored music. It's a fine example of a dramatic play with music. The story and its characters are paramount and the music provides a lyrical underpinning. It's an epic story told on a very personal level."
The Hawk Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Indecent is funny, dramatic, and highly entertaining while still remaining topical and thought-provoking. Victory Gardens' production of Paula Vogel's play is a reminder of the power of the theatre and the profound hope it can instill in people, even in the most hopeless of times."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...In an era when America is sadly renewing both its (previously hidden) xenophobia and its prejudices against LGBT people, Paula Vogel's 2015 play Indecent seems frighteningly prescient. Indecent, just opened at the Victory Gardens Theatre in its Chicago premiere, tells the true story of a Yiddish play from 1905 and what happened to it when it premiered on Broadway. The play in question, God of Vengeance, had toured the capitals of Europe to great acclaim due to its uncanny sensitivity in exploring lesbian relations, but in this country it was immediately declared smut, and the entire cast was arrested for obscenity. And it was not merely America's indomitable prudish streak that caused the problem; it was also the fact that this play was produced by a Jewish company comprised of foreigners."
PicksInSix - Recommended
"...The play-within-the play “Indecent” by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, unfolds over decades and across continents to tell the story of the life and times of Sholem Asch and the players who perform his work, God of Vengeance, a singular piece of performance art that was revered, censored and then shamefully reviled in its Broadway debut. “Indecent” champions the ideal that our unending responsibility to protect the essence of art that brings us together – truth, acceptance, freedom and love – can be ripped away in a moment. Director Gary Griffin, and the stirring ensemble playing multiple roles, deliver an inspiring and gripping production now playing at Victory Gardens Theater."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...For those viewers, however, who thrive in the symbolic, the dreamlike, and the reverence and idolism of universal humanity, this is the show for you. Ashes spill from the sleeves of weary immigrants as they step forward from their past. Feather boas and pure sin explode out of suitcases in a choreographed romp by Katie Spelman. Some particularly stunning weather effects are of course the obvious nod to the entire production team, but to this humble actor, and to Benjamin Magnuson's stage manager character, the true heart of the show lies in the heart of those who create it."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...As performed at Victory Gardens, INDECENT manages to evoke sadness and yet also uplift. Even as the play's characters face discrimination and devastation because of who they are, they refuse to give up their art and their identities in order to defend what they love. The fact that Vogel sends this message in such a specific and unique way makes INDECENT all the more compelling. This play has a story all its own and yet there is so much universality within it."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Victory Gardens’ production, directed by Gary Griffin, begins with a rollicking klezmer band center stage, four musicians who play, sing, and tap out rhythms on the bodies of their instruments. The way their voices multiply is echoed in the casting—a set of “elders” to play all the fathers and mothers, “middles” to play all the vamps and vices, and “ingénues” to play all the lovers. The way the violin (Elleon Dobias) returns reminds us that no one, however briefly present, fails to have an influence. The ensemble flickers expertly between dialects. Catherine LeFrere turns in an especially vivid performance as the Middle: Halina."
