Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended
"...As played by the wildly uneven Joseph Anthony Byrd, this Till feels not like a 14-year-old boy—and a boy was all he was—but a contemporary college man with a seductive way with women. Mose Wright ( John Wesley), the ill-educated but astonishingly courageous Mississippian who testified against Till's murderers, seems to shift character and sophistication with every scene. It's as if nobody wants to admit who he really was, even though he's a man who stood up and changed history."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Bayeza's telling of the familiar story is infused with such beautiful language, such a fine ear for the very individual voices of her characters, such a rich and detailed sense of the nature of the racial divide in the North and South of the time and such a biblical feel for the whole notion of resurrection that the story remains riveting. And director Oz Scott has cast the production expertly, and captured the musical tone of Bayeza's "ballad" style."
Daily Herald - Somewhat Recommended
"...Bayeza's Emmett, every inch the teenage boy, rings true. The play's dialogue is so lyrical it sounds like a prose poem, and the scenes between Emmett and his family, especially between mother and son, are vivid and sincere. But the play lacks coherence. Double-casting the drama creates unnecessary confusion. Moreover, there's a discrepancy in tone between the straightforward first act and the slightly surreal and awkwardly conceived second act that makes it hard to tell what this play wants to be: historical biography or a psychological expose."
SouthtownStar - Somewhat Recommended
"...The Ballad of Emmett Till, directed by Oz Scott, is the kind of show that gets deep inside you, but this production could have even greater impact with some changes. It would help if we had a more detailed and clearer knowledge of the connection between Till's murder and the civil rights movement."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Joseph Anthony Byrd electrifies as Emmett, offering up an impetuous, exuberant motormouth who might've been a preacher if history hadn't made him a martyr. Oz Scott (who staged the landmark 1976 Broadway production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, by Bayeza's sister Ntozake Shange) directs this eloquent theatrical pageant."
Chicago Free Press - Somewhat Recommended
"...Unfortunately, the presence of so many perspectives means this sprawling script often lacks a point of view. Oz Scott’s staging is equally overly generous, delivering warm portrayals such as Deidrie Henry’s Mamie, a mother full of protective passion and, ultimately, enough dignity to shame any enemy. (She insisted on an open casket to show the world what the racists did to her son. Oddly, though the torture is repeatedly depicted, the many projections in this play never include the famous one of the mangled face.)"
EpochTimes - Highly Recommended
"...Leading this exciting cast is young Joseph Anthony Byrd, a recent college graduate with a very short resume, but based on what he does in this performance, one that will grow in length and stature in the years to come- he is outstanding."
Copley News Service - Somewhat Recommended
"...The Ballad of Emmett Till has its heart in the right place. There is no denying Bayeza’s sincerity or the considerable research that informs her story. And there is merit in recreating the appalling racial divide that convulsed this country only a half century ago. But overall the play did not open any new vistas for me, especially considering the excessive length of the show. I left the Goodman Theatre pondering what August Wilson could have achieved with both the realistic and mythic elements in the Emmett Till martyrdom."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The Goodman’s tepid look at Till’s life does little to distinguish itself from other Chicago plays in recent years that have examined the same story, except that it looks vaguely more expensive. In fact, there’s almost nothing particular about Scott’s production; even some of the city’s most unique actors somehow fade in this wash. (Only Deidrie Henry’s dignified Mamie and Chris Sullivan’s coarsely bigoted sheriff manage to stand apart.)"
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...The Ballad of Emmett Till, now in a world premiere at the Goodman Theatre, contains a mixed bag about the tragedy of Emmett Till. The play has its moments and accomplishes the true essence of the personality of Emmett Till but act two wanders about after several scenes vividly depicting the torture and death of Emmett Till."
