Rock 'N' Roll Reviews
Chicago Tribune- Recommended
"...Stoppard’s play dances with the notion that the real revolution lies within each of us and our ability to continue to love and forgive each other. In our current times, is that message transcendent optimism or naive capitulation? Possibly both. But Scambiatterra’s production gives us deeply humane characters to care about as the whirligig of history spins on."
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
"...underneath that density of material is a grand object lesson in the loss of innocence. With vehement intensity, the courageous cast of this mammoth two-hour, 45-minute show, directed by Kathy Scambiatterra, sift through the failed embers of history for the theatrical experience of a lifetime."
Windy City Times- Highly Recommended
"...This is a well-acted, intelligent production of a sprawling play with a tangle of themes and ideas intersecting symbolically if not factually: freedom vs. repression, love vs. Eros, theory vs. reality, rock music vs. politics, the collapse of European Communism and the rise of Thatcherism. Perhaps only Tom Stoppard could cram Sappho, Vaclav Havel, the Beach Boys, Karl Marx and the Plastic People of the Universe ( PPU ) in a single play. The PPU was an underground opposition rock band in Czechoslovakia following Soviet repression of the Prague Spring in 1968, and survived until Communism's fall in 1989."
Around The Town Chicago- Somewhat Recommended
"...Still, this “Rock ‘n’ Roll” is a nostalgic vision peppered with the playfulness of Pan, the whisps of Sapphic verse and the ethereal presence of Syd Barrett running through its veins. At the conclusion, you’ll want to jump up and celebrate with them all as the Rolling Stones take to the stage for the finale."
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
"...There’s a lot to listen to and digest in this intimate, in-the-round production of one of Tom Stoppard’s most complex and personal plays. Thanks to a well-directed, expertly enhanced production, audiences will find themselves reliving the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, especially through the music of the time. These compelling, intensely keen characters lead us through the culture and political events that defined an era, as well as everything that happened in Europe, not so very long ago. Watching these familiar events pass before our eyes, theatergoers may be reminded that, truly, everything old is new again."
Third Coast Review- Recommended
"...Scambiatterra’s very strong cast features a warm, nuanced performance by Julian Hester as Jan. Max is a powerhouse bear-hug of a character as played by H.B. Ward. The proud Communist says, “I’m exactly as old as the October Revolution.” Kristin Collins carefully creates two completely differentiated characters: Eleanor, the classics scholar, dying of cancer; and later, her daughter, Esme, in love with life, music and Jan. Esme’s daughter Alice (Kayla Adams) completes the generational story."
Chicago On Stage- Somewhat Recommended
"...This is a play with high ideals and grand concepts. It is a credit to The Artistic Home to take it on, and the timing, as our freedoms in this country are systematically eroded, is excellent. Its ending is well-earned, and a lot of it is thought-provoking. If you’re in the mood for something complex, political and personal, it’s worth checking out."
Picture This Post- Recommended
"...Through Jan, we see how history and time inform the transformation from naïve idealism to sober pragmatism, and through both Jan and Max, how love transcends both art and politics. This is a great pick for history buffs, or for those who enjoy deep, intense plays."
NewCity Chicago- Somewhat Recommended
"...Stoppard pulls his usual pranks, whether comparing the mind to a machine made of cans or making sure the potentially magical figure of the Piper, which the drug-addled Esme—played by Kayla Adams and Kristin Collins in the same dreadful platinum blonde wig—believes is the great god Pan serenading her one tripped-out day in the garden. (Pan is only a smoked-out has-been who once had a band.) All this with a density of speech that makes one wish Beckett had been consulted for an edit."