Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...It's a bravura piece of contrasting acting — each half deepening the impact of the other — and the intimately precise direction of the second show (the work of a young Canadian director named Jennifer Tarver) is a telling contrast with the inevitably straining ambitions of Falls' “Hughie,” a production that fights tooth-and-nail with the play to be more than it is. Tarver has no such struggles with Beckett. She merely embraces his details, and Dennehy plays along, shuffling back and forward like a rat trapped in a tiring maze."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...If you've begun to take actor Brian Dennehy for granted (despite his exceptional performances in O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" and Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"), you will never do so again after seeing him as Krapp. He is giving a knockout performance in this play -- a work that is simply like none other in existence."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...The genius in pairing these two pieces is that we're forced to ask ourselves which is worse: delusion or the lack of same? That dichotomy carries through in the beautifully realized sets, both designed by Eugene Lee. Hughie's Times Square hotel retains just enough traces of its former comforts to suggest that it and Erie had a heyday once and might again."
Windy City Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Eugene O'Neill's duet for loners can be viewed as a courtship in the distinctly masculine mode comprised of equal parts swagger and sentimentality. Erie's braggadocio bespeaks his fear of the airy illusion which fuels his world deflating. We sense, more clearly than in the 2004 production ( also directed by Robert Falls ) , the dimming of the dazzle as Erie seems to visibly shrink inside his rumpled suit, until, bare moments before the light is extinguished, his solitary audience kindles his own small beacon to rescue both men from the darkness."
Talkin Broadway
- Highly Recommended
"...Why put these two short plays together for one evening? Perhaps because the first seems to cover the end of a civilization built purely on a carnivorous form of capitalism, while the second forces a man to confront his own resignation to mortality, set against the voice of his romantic youth. It all makes you want to treat people, and maybe even yourself, a little better, before it's too late."
Centerstage
- Highly Recommended
"...Though at first glance the two plays seem dramatically different – and there's no question that they indeed are – it is the similarities in these two stories that pull this double bill together. Both are comedy-laced dramas that delve deeply into loss, depression and loneliness. Both involve the painful exploration of a man's life. And both prove that Brian Dennehy is a theatrical force to be reckoned with. It's no wonder that the run of this double bill has already been extended."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...
The coupling of these two plays, so stylistically divergent on the page, was the actor’s choice, and they work together in ways a less-experienced performer might not have anticipated. In Dennehy’s lived-in performances, they burnish each other to a warm glow."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Brian Dennehy delivers O’Neill’s gambler and “teller of tales” Erie Smith in memorable performance. There are few actors who can keep our attention telling stories for almost an hour. Dennehy gave a compelling honest humanity to Erie that makes us almost sympathize with him. We feel his pain and his regret and we pity him. I enjoyed seeing a giant talent’s work performed by a marvelous actor. Too bad Hughie is only 50 minutes; I could have stayed another hour to hear both “teller of tales” spin more yarns. Hughie is a “must see” show."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...The current production is a masterpiece of theater using the works of two intense writers, Eugene O'Neill and Samuel Beckett as two one act plays,"Hughie" by O'Neill and "Krapp's Last Tape" by Beckett, performed by one of my favorite actors, Brian Dennehy, who has proved over the years that no matter the role, he can play it. One can see that he doesn't just perform, but learns all that he can about the characters he plays. He is an actor's actor and a dream for any director to work with as he becomes the character he plays. Any aspiring actor should make it a point to watch this man work. Seeing him do this special presentation is a true education on what an actor should be doing."
Chicago Theater Beat
- Recommended
"...Hughie tends to drag a bit and the powerful silences of Krapp’s Last Tape are often interrupted by coughs and shifting, which is more of a comment on the audience than the production. The Albert stage seems a bit large for these plays. The size works for capturing the crushing, Atlas-scale solitude, but the anguished details are occasionally lost in the abyss. Still, the double-bill is remarkable. Nothing is overblown or glossed over; all aspects of both productions are painstakingly devised. Even the show is just over 90 minutes, you’ll have plenty of fodder for hours of therapy."
