Chicago Tribune
- Somewhat Recommended
"...I found Newell's perversely refreshing "Glass Menagerie" to be demonstrably flawed but endlessly fascinating. Once it finally settles down and achieves some consistency and clarity of purpose, it reveals new things about this canonical text."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Talk about blowing the dust off a classic. In his richly expressionistic and often surprising production of Tennessee Williams' career-making, quasi-autobiographical play, "The Glass Menagerie," Court Theatre director Charles Newell has taken one of the most familiar and beloved works in the American canon and made it strikingly new."
Daily Herald
- Highly Recommended
"...Exceptional revival of Tennessee Williams' classic is magical. Immensely satisfying production has depth and vision. The impressive cast expertly conveys the fractured psyches of characters driven nearly mad by disappointment, regret and loneliness.."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...Jay Whittaker is excellent as Tom, and when Mary Beth Fisher eases up on Amanda's flouncing and flightiness, she drives home the awful weight of a mother's sacrifices. Ned Noyes's gentleman caller is a rich contrast to Chaon Cross's Laura, so mutely self-effacing she almost obscures the character's aching vulnerability. Happily, the glass still glows."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...If the set is bold, the acting is overbold—the one place that Newell’s direction falters a bit. Jay Whittaker is a panther of an actor, both charismatic and menacing, but as Tom, he delves over deep into histrionics. A little more subtlety, a little less my-head-is-about-to-explode frenzy would serve him well...Yet despite its flaws, Glass shatters the heart."
Time Out Chicago
- Recommended
",,,in the end, Newell’s Menagerie moves us. Although we never believe that the luminous Cross wouldn’t have beaus calling night and day, when Laura’s glass unicorn breaks, Cross’s face emanates Laura’s profound isolation, leading affectingly to the painful (if, alas, overdone) ending. And the simple truth is, despite the director’s academic approach (more concept than content), Williams’s magnificent writing and his delicately observed, vastly human relationships would shine through even if the director had placed his cast in hobo outfits à la a Beckettian Waiting for Gentleman Caller."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Jay Whittaker, as Tom Wingfield, grabs us from his opening monologue as he deftly sets the atmosphere of the late 1930’s. With four tremendous talents, The Glass Menagerie delivers a superb, beautifully-wrought evening of theatre."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Recommended
"...Within the context of Newell's erratic vision, the cast is exemplary. Mary Beth Fisher's Amanda is a joy: warm, flirtatious and gently nagging while essentially stage managing what she believes are her two children's best interests. Jay Whittaker is always a brooding and intense actor, which brings Tom's restless spirit and quest for adventure vividly to life."
