Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...The House of Ideas (directed by former City Lit artistic director Terry McCabe) does a fine job of distinguishing both men and their drives. For the King, it was creating incredible art, paying the bills, and eventually telling his own stories. For Lee, it was his unfulfilled desire to be a "real" writer of literature. However, both men embraced their found careers and created artwork and stories that have long outlived them both."
Talkin Broadway
- Highly Recommended
"...City Lit Theater is opening its forty-fourth season, the inaugural season for its new artistic director, Brian Pastor, with the world premiere of The House of Ideas, the finale of of Mark Pracht's Four-Color Trilogy. Outgoing Artistic Director Terry McCabe directs a strong cast who bring to life Pracht's impressive and nuanced telling of the well-known story of the rise of Marvel comics and the contentious multi-decade collaboration between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby."
HollywoodChicago.com
- Highly Recommended
"...The story's centerpiece is iconic comic book creator Stan Lee (Brian Breau) and his journey within the burgeoning industry, which began when he was a 17-year-old in 1939 at Marvel's root company, Timely Comics. At Timely he meets artist Jack Kirby (Brian Plocharczyk), a street wise post-Depression hustler who has to admit the skinny teenager has enthusiasm."
Around The Town Chicago
- Recommended
"..."The House of Ideas", written by Mark Pracht and directed by Terry McCabe, is the third and final installment of plays about significant moments in comic book history. While this tale builds to the rise of Marvel Comics in 1961 with the launch of The Fantastic Four, it also has to do with the struggles among employees to get credit for inspiration, hard work, and teamwork."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Recommended
"...For the passionate fan of what’s been called The Golden Age of Comic Books, this play will totally be your cup of tea. But for theatergoers not into the comic book craze, my advice is to just sit back, relax and let the picaresque production wash over you. This is an entertaining play. And perhaps hearing names like Captain America, Spider-Man, the Flash, Ironman, the Hulk, Thor, the X-Men, the Justice League and the Avengers will ring a bell. After all, besides creating all these classic Jack Kirby-illustrated comic books, Stan Lee was also the creative genius credited with bringing these superheroes to life on the silver screen."
Buzz Center Stage
- Recommended
"...“The House of Ideas,” directed by Terry McCabe, is an aptly named recount of the rise of Marvel Comics and its two driving forces: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Marvel Universe has indeed become a dominating force in creative media, spawning blockbuster films, hit TV series, and a world of uniquely individual and even flawed superheroes that differ from everything that came before."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...City Lit Theater is finishing off local playwright Mark Pracht's Four-Color Trilogy-about key moments in the history of comic book publishing-with The House of Ideas. Directed by former artistic director Terry McCabe, it's the story of two giants and creative pioneers in the comics industry: artist Jack Kirby (Brian Plocharczyk) and writer/editor/executive Stan Lee (Bryan Breau)-sometimes called the Lennon and McCartney of comic books."
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...You don’t need to be a comics fan to enjoy this play (though it would certainly help). Like the first two plays in this series, The House of Ideas is actually about the conflicts, both real and imagined, between men without superpowers. You know: like all of us."
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...Pow! Bam! “House of Ideas,” the final installment of Mark Pracht’s “Four Color Trilogy” (so named for the four-color plates traditionally used to illustrate comic books) is a knockout production worthy of being City Lit Theater’s one-hundred and fiftieth production. Directed by Terry McCabe, “House of Ideas” focuses on the often-tumultuous relationship between illustrator Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee. Together the two upstarts created the blueprint for an emerging world of super-heroes that ultimately became known as the Marvel Universe. In doing so, however, the two sparred, first over creative control and then later public recognition."
NewCity Chicago
- Recommended
"...The best part is recognizing bits of Kirby and Lee in their fictional creations. Kirby flies off the handle like an angry Hulk and travels to new universes in his imagination like the Power Cosmic-wielding Silver Surfer, while Lee can be as calculating as Reed Richards or as pragmatic as Dr. Doom. With special effect-laden films replacing comic books as the superhero medium of choice, a play about real-life creators is a reminder of what made Marvel great in the first place: the relatability of its heroes."
