Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...This much-admired show’s album cover is the music industry: Over three hours, you watch a British band that recalls Fleetwood Mac holed up for months in U.S. recording studios to create something that sounds a lot like “Rumours,” as released in 1977. Especially in scenes featuring a band’s de facto leader and a willful drummer, there are also thematic echoes of Peter Jackson’s documentary about The Beatles, another example of the above dichotomy."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Directed (as on Broadway) by Daniel Aukin, the four-act play-with-music mirrors the New York production and runs through Feb. 8 at the Loop’s CIBC Theatre. “Stereophonic” leans way into the correlation between art and angst, sublimity and suffering, sex and song, offering a hyper-granular view of the emotional, exhausting, tedious work that goes into making artistic sausage."
Daily Herald
- Highly Recommended
"...“Stereophonic” is an observational, fly-on-the-wall drama set entirely in split-level California recording studios. Within these creative crucibles, you watch as a band made up of Brits and Americans — some in romantic relationships — endeavor to create a hit album on the scale of Fleetwood Mac's “Rumours.”"
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...The gender and national makeup of the band, as well as their romantic arrangements, strongly resemble Fleetwood Mac, though the characters of course all have different names than their seeming real-life counterparts, and the band itself is never named. In addition to Simon (Cornelius McMoyler), there are his fellow Brits: married-but-on-the-outs couple Holly (Emilie Kouatchou) and Reg (Christopher Mowod), who play keyboards and bass, respectively. (The actors all play their own instruments with admirable chops in the production, but to be very clear, this is not a musical, much less a jukebox musical.)"
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...David Adjmi's Stereophonic, now playing at the CIBC, is an unusual piece of theater. It's not about learning any life lessons, or coming to terms with things, and with one notable exception, none of the characters have a growth arc; further, most of them are profoundly unlikeable. Concerning the tumultuous recording of a rock album, the play follows the recording progress of a quintet of musicians-definitely not supposed to be Fleetwood Mac-from 1976 to 1977 and is simply a sharp observation of the art of creation."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews
- Recommended
"...If you've ever been curious about the complex creative process that groups undergo to craft the perfect songs, harmonies, melodies, and musical arrangements, then "Stereophonic" at the CIBC Theatre is a must-see. This four-act play, which captures the specific "vibe" of the 70s, delves into the exhilarating joys and profound challenges of producing a recording, offering a glimpse into the collaboration that ignites artistic expression."
Around The Town Chicago
- Recommended
"...I will tell you that this is not a production for everyone. In fact there were a number of people who anticipated a musical, which is understandable with its name, and there are songs in it, but in reality it is a strong look at young hopefuls working on what they hope will be the musical album that will make them the stars they long to be. It is a deep look into these young people, allowing us, the observers, to peer into the inner secrets and motivational sourcesfor their ambitions."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...STEREOPHONIC is an entertaining, realistic and raw depiction of the creative process. Set within a West Coast recording studio, designed with detail by David Zinn, the production has an authentic look. For most theatergoers, I suspect David Adjmi’s play depicts the first time they’ve ever understood the intimate details of what it means to be a member of a famous rock band. It also takes the audience through the intricate trials and tribulations—the agony and ecstasy—of how a record album eventually evolves. Along the way, we experience firsthand the cost of artistic ambition, while looking at the ever-changing tension, love and hate that occurs in relationships between creative adults."
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...So many of us have that story of a favorite band. A group brought together by a shared passion and realizes they have that special something that can make them huge. So often that passion takes a dramatic turn, and the pressures cloud that rise to fame in a way that no one can quite overcome. Playwright David Adjmi smartly writes that tragedy for the stage. A gut-wrenching story about the many ramifications of talent not quite being enough and realizing only too late that the love for music that made these folks unique got lost along the way."
The Fourth Walsh
- Highly Recommended
"...The innovative team, Playwright David Adjmi, Director Daniel Aukin, Composer Will Butler, hit all the right notes. The music and the discourse and the humor seem to happen organically. It feels unrehearsed -in the best way- as if we are all in the studio together. Enjoying the camaraderie. Admiring the vocal and musical talents. Cringing at the overly personal jabs. Grimacing when the drummer resists using a click track. Rooting for the fourth attempt to be track-worthy. We are in it…. the wild mix of creative juices, intoxicated personalities and relational angst."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
- Highly Recommended
"...Despite its brief stop here, the touring production of David Adjmi’s Tony-sweeping play “Stereophonic” is the first must-see show of the calendar year, if only because its likes are unlikely to pass this way again any time soon."
Third Coast Review
- Highly Recommended
"...Stereophonic is a play about a year in the life of a rock band (never named) and the personal and musical trials and tribulations it goes through during recording sessions to complete a new album. The four-act play is written by David Adjmi and directed by Daniel Aukin with music by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire. The setting is Sausalito and Los Angeles, California, in 1976-77. If you're thinking this sounds like a jukebox musical with lots of songs played by groovy musicians, you're in the wrong theater. (That might have been why there were empty seats in our row after intermission.)"
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...David Adjmi’s play Stereophonic has arrived in Chicago at the CIBC Theatre on its national tour for a two-week run. Having earned a record-setting 13 Tony nominations for its Broadway production, the piece is one of the most exciting new American plays in recent memory. Both here in Chicago and elsewhere on the tour, audiences who see Stereophonic will find out exactly why this play has provoked so much energy in the theatre."
PicksInSix
- Recommended
"...In 2024, “Stereophonic” made history garnering a whopping 13 Tony Award nominations, the most ever received by a play. It went on to win five Tony Awards, as well as a smattering of Drama League Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards. The prior year, it brought home an impressive seven Drama Desk Awards from its off-Broadway production at Playwrights Horizons. A shortened version of the play, dubbed as “The Radio Edit” by writer David Adjmi, is embarking on its First National Tour, opening Wednesday and playing at Broadway In Chicago’s CIBC Theatre through February 8."
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...Stereophonic’s imaginary, no-name five-member band consists of two couples, one American and one British. This mirrors Fleetwood Mac’s band composition. The 2 hour and 50-minute, four-act play, including an intermission, covers the band’s creative process for a year. We have a front-row seat to their artistic disagreements, personal turmoil, drug use, and raging conflicts, much like Fleetwood Mac suffered while creating Rumours, #6 on the top-10 bestselling vinyl albums of all time."
Werner's Theatre Reviews
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Despite these obstacles, Stereophonic remains a thoughtfully constructed play. Its strengths in design, music, and performance highlight why it has received such critical acclaim, even as the touring format may expose limitations. At its best, the play offers a compelling look at the messy, exhausting, and often volatile reality of making art together."
BroadwayWorld
- Highly Recommended
"...David Adjmi’s STEREOPHONIC pulls back the curtain on making a rock album — with all of the minute details, inane band member conversations, and painstaking, spirited artistic conversations that come with it. It centers on an unnamed Fleetwood Mac-esque band in the late 1970s as they record (and deliberate over) their newest album at a studio in California. If diving deep into the minutiae of the recording process excites you, STEREOPHONIC is your ticket. Fans of DAISY JONES AND THE SIX — both the Taylor Jenkins Reid novel and the Amazon miniseries based on it — will love this."
NewCity Chicago
- Recommended
"...A modern take on a tale of classic rock, "Stereophonic" earns its reputation as a riveting and intense drama, an innovative musical-play hybrid that is rocking the theater world. It's a production well worth the experience during its limited Chicago engagement."
