Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...The show that has arrived at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, a very large venue for a play, is the first national touring production of the Broadway production of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company original production. None of the original cast is with the show anymore, although the star of the tour, the redoubtable Estelle Parsons, was also the star on Broadway after the originator of the lead role of matriarch Violet Weston, Deanna Dunagan, decided she’d had enough of the nasty old bird who emotionally savages her returning adult daughters after the mysterious disappearance of her husband. This is, however, still Anna D. Shapiro’s original Steppenwolf production, featuring the same staging and the work of the same designers. This is, in all likelihood, your last chance to see that production in Chicago. Hollywood is about to get its clutches around this script."
Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...I confess I attributed a large portion of the play’s initial success to the incomparable brilliance of the “Steppenwolf family” ensemble of the original production, with Anna D. Shapiro’s deft direction and Todd Rosenthal’s three-story “Tulsa Gothic” set additional crucial elements. And frankly, that “original” is unmatchable. But while the touring production is less mysterious in its overall chemistry, it still has plenty of energy. And the crazy mix of tabloid rage and black humor that is the essence of Letts’ work is certainly still very much intact."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...If you were blown away by the original Steppenwolf production of Tracy Letts’s Pulitzer Prize-winner, there are a few things you'll have to get used to about this touring version. First and foremost: No Deanna Dunagan. And no Dunagan-esque pyrotechnics, either. Estelle Parsons doesn't attempt to match the hellfire ferocity her predecessor brought to the role of hopped-up Oklahoma matriarch Violet Weston. Except when she's protecting her stash of downers, Parsons's Violet is slower, quieter, more apt to let a bit of viciousness just slip off her tongue than howl it out."
Centerstage
- Highly Recommended
"...Tracy Letts' poignant, emotionally raw, autobiographical drama offers much unpredictable laughter, but by the final scene, after the smoke clears away, you will find a few tears have trickled down your cheek. This production should not be missed because it may never come this way again with such force and perfection."
Chicago Stage Review
- Highly Recommended
"...If you are a devoted fan, rest assured that this incarnation of your beloved play is not only in great hands but also is a remarkable success in and of itself. If you are a newcomer to this theatrical phenomenon, you will leave the theater completely satiated with the complex, hysterical, emotional catastrophe that is August: Osage County."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...
Above all else, August is a masterfully constructed family drama. Letts doles out information with novelistic skill, letting us guess some developments but keeping others close to his vest with a magician’s sense of misdirection. He wields his familiar themes—the emotional trauma a parent can visit on a child, generational repetition—with laserlike precision."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...The National Tour contains terrific, emotionally based and quite honest performances making it a most complete drama with realistic and humanly flawed characters. This drama reminds us that it is almost impossible to escape from one’s family, especially from a Midwest family. This is a national tour that plays as fine as the original Steppenwolf Theatre production. August: Osage County is as good as theatre gets. If you missed this masterpiece during its Chicago run—hurry—you only have through February 14, 2010 to experience August: Osage County."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...As I said earlier, the play is over three hours, yet feels as it is far less. Todd Rosenthal's set appears to be the same set as in the original production, but due to the larger Cadillac Theatre, seems just a bit smaller. I do have to say that I feel sorry for those who have to sit in the last rows of the main floor and the top of the balcony as they are cheated by not being able to see the faces of the actors as clearly as the others do. Each little gesture and eye movement has meaning, so it is of great importance to keep your focus from the start to the end. This is a play that you do not want to miss one second of. It is brilliant with a capital B!"
Chicago Theater Beat
- Highly Recommended
"...After closing a little more than 2 years ago at Steppenwolf, Tracy Letts’ American neo-epic August: Osage County makes a triumphant return to Chicago. Its vacation has been pretty productive. The play moved to Broadway, then London, picked up a Tony Award for Best Play as well as the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and a feature film is in the works. Now the show is on tour around the nation. August occupies a slightly larger space for its homecoming, the massive Cadillac Palace Theatre. Headed by the voracious Estelle Parsons, this touring August retains the intensity of the original, hitting the snowy streets of the Loop with the force of a tornado."
