Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Certainly, the aims of "Fulton Street Sessions" are modest. And the eclecticism scratches surfaces rather than delves deep. But there is something said here about the absurdity of the human condition (a starting off point, the company tells us at one point, was the horrific snowstorm of roughly a year ago). Clearly, TUTA has tried to create a show organized around music in the broadest possible sense, and you find yourself going with the non-linear flow with ease."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"... The troupe’s world premiere work might best be described as a surreal cafe, with nods to everyone from Lewis Carroll and Samuel Beckett to Antonin Artaud’s “theater of cruelty” and the Second City (by way of a decidedly Slavic imagination and visual sensibility). And it comes with a vibrantly live soundtrack that can leap (sometimes hilariously) from hard rock, to beautifully harmonized church hymn, to a Stevie Wonder song, to a raucous Serbian folk band finale, with everything from percussion, accordion and a toy piano part of the musical mashup."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Fulton Street Sessions starts promisingly as a bewildered, heavyset man clad only in a towel is stripped, washed, and stuffed into multiple layers of winter clothes by a trio of silent taskmasters, who then put him through absurd physical routines. The ten-minute scene is unsettling, trenchant, silly, mesmerizing, and about the only part of this 80-minute, cabaret-style show offering coherent logic and resonant imagery. Most of the rest consists of semifocused songs, monologues, and movement lacking theatrical rigor or a clear point of view."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Whatever your interpretation, the results are a welcome relief from the hackneyed conventions nowadays defining this genre of thespic experimentation. If the subtexts are often elusive ( what's the significance of the offstage party projected on the floor by hidden camera, or the chandelier that swings down from the ceiling? ) , we can all bask in TUTA's trademark musical interludes, performed with professional panache by the cast and concluding with a springtime madrigal reconfigured to the rousing, foot-stamping, hand-clapping, drum-beating tempo of a Klezmer orchestra to send us home through a winter not yet fully departed."
Centerstage - Recommended
"... There’s a surreal, almost Dada like energy running through this show, it doesn’t make much sense and it’s not supposed to."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"... Program notes indicate Sessions was loosely inspired by last February’s massive blizzard and the media frenzy that surrounded it—an early number has Jaimelyn Gray rattling off a long list of hoary snow-related neologisms (“Snowpocalypse! Snow-M-G! Snow-stradamus!”). The genesis of other interludes is less clear, though a running theme of feeling trapped can be traced back to that citywide flash-freeze. While some scenes overstay their welcome, the performers are engaging throughout, and there are moments of real brilliance."
Chicago Theatre Addict - Highly Recommended
"...The show works best when the inventive ensemble takes everyday events (such as sitting naked onstage in a large bucket) and builds on them (sitting naked onstage in a large bucket while people in snowsuits pour cold water over you)."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"... The audience seemed toenjoy the quirky work more than me. I did appreciate theenergy, surprises and the stage craft. I’m sure those who enjoy experimental,almost improv, Eastern European cabaret shows will gravitateto Chicago Dramatiststo experiencethe Fulton Street Sessions. It your daringtosee something theatrically different,then theTUTA players have a treatfor you. Just be warned,it’snot standard theatre or a musical comedy but it is filled with bewildering wonderment. It is in-your-face absurdist theatre on steroids!"
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Recommended
"...The big takeaway from FULTON STREET SESSIONS is how much the ensemble enjoys performing together. They are having fun. And when a member steps out of the frivolity with a somber soliloquy, the others almost shun him or her. Of course, it’s a rehearsed response but it feels real. TUTA doesn’t want anyone to stop the party vibe even one of their own. I concur! Just enjoy the party! Keep it fun!"
