Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...Judging by the rapt opening-night audience Saturday, a lot of people were understandably entranced by all of this highly entertaining show's exuberant theatricality and its warm heart. But to fully buy into the uneasy concept, you have to buy the linkage of old-school magic and postmodern clowning. There are two shows going on at The Viaduct. And unless they can be more fully integrated, that's one show too many."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Watkins and Rapley perform a series of marvelous, closeup tricks, with even loonier magic (of a surgical kind) when the old man is sawed in half as part of a heart-transplant operation. Aiding and abetting are a trio of obstreperous clowns (Carolyn Defrin, Michael E. Smith and Stephen Taylor). And the giant magic trickery of this show extends even further -- to the set (a magnificent flip-open diorama by Collette Pollard), costumes (Ana Kuzmanic) and dreamy lighting, video and music."
Pioneer Press - Recommended
"...Charm is the thread that holds all the fragments of the story together as Watkins and Mashburn create a very appealing couple -- visibly loving and attached. The emotion becomes palpable when they embrace and dance."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...this abundance of talent is put in service of a sketchy, maudlin, glacially paced story about a dying magician teaching his craft to an impressionable young mute boy. Watkins says the show pays homage to his recently deceased magician grandfather, so he may be too close to the material to see how little depth it has."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...The Sparrow may be HTC’s fall dazzler, but this small twinkling gem generates sufficient Ta-DA! to earn our attention."
Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended
"...Watkins plays his grandfather with a combination of Old World stolidity and New Age slickness. Mashburn’s endearing Old Woman is a comic marvel and Rapley’s Boy a perfect surrogate for the audience’s own learning curve. There’s enchantment to spare in a cabinet of curiosities that minute by minute spills over with marvels. Far better than The House’s silly and derivative “The Sparrow,” this is homegrown magic as rich a spell as theater distills."
Gay Chicago Magazine - Recommended
"...As the story unfolds you are given a window into the personal exchanges of an elderly magician and his beloved wife-assistant that also reveal the cherished reminiscences of an influential lost loved one. The dialogue is light, but the transference of heartfelt emotion is as charming as the magical moments brought to life with elegant style and creative delivery. A gifted ensemble and outstanding design team create a uniquely personal production that is entertaining, engaging, evocative and enchanting."
EpochTimes - Recommended
"...While this show will probably win no awards, it will please audiences as it is funny with some tender moments, but of greater importance, there is some wonderful magic to be seen, both on the stage and in one's heart."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...The Magnificents could be faulted for shallowness: Dialogue is thin—the magician’s bustling wife (Mashburn) speaks in a cute amalgamation of what seems to be French, German and birdsong, and a young boy (Rapley) who arrives on their doorstep is mute—and there’s no deep excavations of character. But, then, you don’t see a House show for O’Neill-caliber psychology, but for spectacle and hearts on sleeves, here powered by the thrill of creating and believing in illusion."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...I enjoyed this show and I only wish there was more story to compliment the wonderful magic and the wild clowning. Still, The Magnificents is a fun night at the theatre. The House Theatre of Chicago keeps their originality going strong."
