Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...In just 80 minutes of stage traffic, Dan LeFranc’s arresting and moving new play “The Big Meal” serves up more truths about parenting, bereavement, divorce, irritating in-laws, economic stress, marriage and the modern American family than most plays of twice that duration."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The essential conceit at work here is that the actors continually become their characters at different ages and also become part of the subsequent generations. These layers accrue with perfect behavioral and linguistic shifts, almost as if the characters’ DNA is being passed on within this small tribe of actors. The whole human cycle is imprinted here, yet never telegraphed."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...the most important similarity is a shared breadth of vision. Though they portray it differently, neither Our Town nor The Big Meal stops short of death. LeFranc and Bullard follow their characters all the way through to the end of the knowable. We see members of the Sam-and-Nicole family retire from life as we might see them pull away from a meal. This, together with vivid performances by the entire ensemble, gives the piece a somber resonance despite all its great humor. A terrible beauty, indeed."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...Director Dexter Bullard has done a superior job of keeping the fast-moving story coherent to the viewer, especially with the actors switching identities so rapidly. Johnson and Mortensen are particularly effective as the middle-aged Nicole and Sam going through a marital crisis, but all the actors deliver first-rate performances. And Schwartz and Leahy hold their own with the adults in important roles that make considerable demands on the memories and acting chops of the youngsters."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...
LeFranc makes our 90-minute tour through Sam and Nicole’s life feel both specific and universal, while Bullard and his exceptional ensemble keep the action smooth and clear. “We really started something, didn’t we?” Nicole asks herself upon meeting her great-granddaughter. The Big Meal urges us to savor every bite."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...As the 80 minutes fly by, we eventually start to get the larger picture of the cycles of life that comes from that first meeting years ago. We are struck by just how many people each of us affects during our lifetime. We lament as each family member eats their “big meal” as they pass from us. The Big Meal, taken as a whole work, becomes a vivid and complete profile of the cycles of family life. Take this roller-coaster dinner ride to gather a glimpse into the possible dynamics of your family’s growth. Despite my small irritations, The Big Meal’s entree is delicious and palatable."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...It’s as if Shakespeare’s seven ages of man were all juxtaposed in telling synchronicity and simultaneity. For some it will be confusing, this leap of change from one generation’s girl friend to a settled wife two scenes later--but it’s no more inventive or confounding than life itself."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Directed by Dexter Bullard, this is a roller coaster ride of emotions as we watch our cast of 8 change roles as the years go on. There are times of confusion for us, the audience, as it is easy to get lost in the years moving along as our young couple become an older couple, as the young cast members become their own kids and so on. Only the actual children in the play, are always children, but not always the same children. The stage is fairly empty, only using tables and chairs as the need arises for either more or less, the off stage actors waiting in what looks to be a “bull pen” as they are on-deck to return as someone else."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...The Big Meal is life ordered off the menu. Thought provoking! Knowing preservatives don’t keep anything good indefinitely, ask for the specials but get what you want out of life. And definitely look at the dessert menu. The Big Meal, reservations recommended!"