Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...This Chicago Shakespeare production, a hugely invigorating and entertaining affair, benefits greatly from a true, old-fashioned star performance from Harry Groener in the leading role. Groener, a live wire of spectacular spontaneity and unpredictability, does the crucial job of making George at once troubled, a tad childish and hugely empathetic, if only by comparison to the clutch of self-serving courtiers, politicians and physicians who smother him."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...That is where “The Madness of King George III,” Alan Bennett’s impossibly smart, shrewd, poignant, funny, bristlingly alive 1991 drama about the man who “lost the colonies” is now receiving a transcendent, impeccably cast production under the direction of Penny Metropulos. And it is where Harry Groener (a Tony Award-nominated actor with major musical credits, who also is widely known as the Mayor in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), is giving one of those towering performances that suggests a lifetime of work has coalesced into a single grand portrayal — one that reveals years of accrued technique and profound life experience. Groener should not be missed. More crucially, he deserves to lead this production to Broadway."
Examiner - Recommended
"...It’s George’s show, from start to finish. And in ways both as thrashing and noisy as a barreling tornado and as quiet and subtle as a sheen of sweat, Groener makes it his. George III is alternately tyrannically self-aggrandizing and wistfully human. He veers from lightning-witted to barely half-witted in a transformation that’s powerfully physical as well as emotional. He’s worth the price of ticket."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Director Penny Metropulos has entrusted George III to Broadway veteran Harry Groener (Crazy for You, Cats), who uses his years as a song-and-dance man to bring a vibrant physicality to monarch—from initial stiff-limbed severity to the miserable staggering and unsteadiness as George III becomes mentally unhinged. It's a technically brilliant and heart-wrenching performance."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Reader, I do not really like history lessons, but I loved this play. Bennett is a remarkable writer: generous to his characters, but unsentimental; a brilliant stylist, but never self-indulgent. And the entire cast delivers strong performances, from the near-wordless nincompoop Ramsden Skrymshir (Jonathan Hicks) to the beleaguered William Pitt (Nathan Hosner) to the shrewd, brave Queen (Ora Jones) and the King himself (Harry Groener, in a magnificent performance). Under Penny Metropulos’s unerring direction, the spectacle unfolds seamlessly. Special mention should go to Susan E. Mickey’s rich, period-specific costumes and to Eva Breneman’s dialect coaching; the subtlety and variety of regional British accents on display is a minor theatrical miracle."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...this is a wonderful play, and a strong production: the costumes are excellent, the lighting most fine, the set simple yet highly functional. It is also a newly-cobbled script, from the original play (which was 4 hours long), the changed script for its American premier, and the screenplay for the movie (The Madness of King George); which I suppose is neither here nor there. And, not to repeat myself, but Harry Groener’s performance is worth seeing – period."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...“Madness of King George” produces an all-star cast, the most convincing and inspiring performance belonging to Harry Groener (King George III). Groener brings a human quality to the powerful king, while also breathing an aura of historic resonance into the air. Becoming clinically insane is not something easily done, but Harry Groener pushed his character to every limit, leaving this critic in a state of awe. Director Penny Metropulos has found beauty in a man’s madness, pumping every inch of Chicago Shakespeare’s Courtyard Theater with an electric force that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...As is the case in productions at Chicago Shakespeare, they bring in some of Chicago’s finest ( those actors with a great understanding of Shakespeare) The Title character is one that takes great energy and a great number of lines to handle with several personality types, as he has his ups and downs- Harry Groener, making his first appearance on the CST stage nailsi t, from his first appearance on the stage to the very end! He handles each mood swing with the right touch and one would have to call him a master of his character interpretation, filled with great energy and skilled acting talent. Seeing him develop George III for the 2 hours and 45 minutes of this production is a treat for an audience and worth the price of the ticket. "
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...The near-three hours fly by as pell-mell conflicts ebb and seethe under William Bloodgood’s immense Palladian portico. Its most telling moment is when a recovering George experiences the only good treatment he received: He plays a dying King Lear, suddenly realizing that another man wrote about and an imaginary one felt his plight. That, of course, was to know how powerless you are when fate toys with you and your own body turns on you worse than any enemies could imagine. You feel like a voyeur as you watch this scatological and scandalous story unfold, but you can’t take your eyes away for an instant."
