Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Black Ensemble knows how to throw a seasonal party. But even by the exuberant standards of this joyous theater, "Memphis Soul — The Story of Stax Records" is an uncommonly good time."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...It is worth the price of admission to the Black Ensemble Theater's new surefire megahit, "Memphis Soul (The Story of Stax Records)," just to see Rick Stone play Rufus Thomas, the rhythm-and-blues and soul master who recorded on the Memphis, Tenn.-based Stax label throughout the 1960s and early '70s."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...The singing and high-energy dancing are excellent and contagiously enthusiastic (even the stage crew dances between sets, generating applause). But what sets this performance apart from others is the live band."
SouthtownStar - Highly Recommended
"...Produced and directed by Jackie Taylor, with powerhouse musical director Jimmy Tillman leading an extraordinary team of musicians, the show is an irresistible, joy-filled, hand-clapping good time."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Jimmy Tillman's brass-heavy eight-piece band keeps the energy high, and under Jackie Taylor's direction the performers are funny and accomplished, delivering musically precise renderings jazzed by sometimes outrageous bits of stage business. Five dancers expertly, energetically perform Rueben Echoles's savvy choreography. You know you're in good hands when even the scene changes, performed by two dancers, are amusing."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...in the tidy two-hour evening, we will hear Toi Overton’s Mavis Staples exhort us to Respect Yourself, Dwayne Lonzo’s Isaac Hayes praise the hero called Shaft and see Rick Stone, playing the funky-chicken man Thomas, cajole brave anglo males into joining him in “walking the dog” ( to the delight of the multiethnic audience ) . But even before then, by the time the overture has finished heralding our host’s entrance, swooping down the aisle in a white satin cape, we are ready to follow these modern-day Gabriels wherever they may take us."
EpochTimes - Highly Recommended
"...Whenever I feel that I need to be energized, I look forward to attending a performance at The Black Ensemble Theater Company because I know that Jackie Taylor's shows are always so up beat and her performers so energetic the audience leaves the theater with a renewed, recharged feeling. The latest production, "Memphis Soul ( The Story of Stax Records) does just that!"
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...the finger-in-a-light-socket musical numbers—which miraculously tap the sound and spirit of the originals without replicating them—are the best you’ll see this year. Most musical biographies defeat their own inevitable lessons about the triumphs of artistic integrity with inferior imitations. Memphis Soul is a thrilling exception."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...I like the assortment of tunes, some I’ve never heard before. The unique style of the Memphis soul sound is worth exploring. Toi Overton as Mavis Staples and Aeisha Mcintosh as Carla were particularly terrific. This is a worthy Black Ensemble Theater show."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...There is talent bursting at the seams, from the hilarious Rick Stone to the lovely Aeisha Mcintosh, sultry Toi Overton, velvet stylists Dwayne Lonzo and Levi Stewart, Jr., to the non-stop energy of Lawrence R. Thompson and Megellan Watts, and the breathtaking ensemble quintet. Nikkieli DeMone and Cynthia F. Carter round out the triple-threat cast, under master Music Director Jimmy Tillman’s percussion sticks."
