The Mad Ones Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...“The Mad Ones” is a warm-centered show that benefits from such a strong lead performance: Guth is quite delightful in this role and you can feel her emotional commitment and determination to bring her character to life. If you like these kinds of contemporary micro-musicals, as I do, you’ll find much to enjoy."

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Audiences closer to high school graduation than I am might find more to relate to in this story about freedom (one of the song names). However, I found myself struggling to care about these characters, unclear what was really at stake. The decision to blow off or postpone college to seek some kind of undefined freedom or discovery was not explored enough, and the protagonist’s glaring privilege went completely unexplored."

Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...“The Mad Ones”, directed by Wyatt Kent, is an energetic coming-of-age story largely told via operetta. Despite lovely singing voices and excellent musical direction by Aaron Kaplan, the show is a disappointment—perhaps unless you are 16 to 21 years old and transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. As for everybody else in the audience, the show is largely ho-hum. The songs go on for much too long; the pacing is bad; and the dialogue is too repetitious and contrived."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...The entire cast shines in this production, Aidan Leake’s Adam is a refreshingly sweet, honest kid who has an almost carnal love of tacos. Anne Sheridan Smith’s performance Miles to Go was an emotional, powerful reckoning with the struggle of a mother to clear a path, and yet prepare her child for unavoidable obstacles, made all the more powerful by her classic, broadway belt."

Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Somewhat Recommended

"...I’ve heard it said one should make an effort to distinguish between “the songs all sound the same” and “the songs belong together.” The Mad Ones belongs between these two poles of thought. In this hundred-minute show, there is a tight sixty to seventy-five-minute soft pop opera that’s appropriately moody and leavened appropriately by gentle humor. Yet it isn’t entirely of a piece."

Entertaining Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...The Mad Ones is an introspective musical about a high-school senior figuring out her next moves after a shock. With themes of loss and uncertainty along with quality songs and excellent voices, this is a show you’re going to want to see."

Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended

"...The Mad Ones is a simple, lovely musical. It doesn’t chart any new ground, and not all of its songs work as well as they should (though Kerrigan and Lowdermilk succeed on enough of them that I looked them up on youtube as soon as I could). Sam’s struggle is familiar to anyone who has ever felt that their life is circumscribed by others’ desires and goals for them. It is instantly recognizable to anyone who has ever felt a need inside that others don’t understand. Bree Lowdermilk is a trans woman, so it isn’t difficult to believe that (even though it was written long before she transitioned) this musical holds in its heart a passion similar to the one that drove its author."

NewCity Chicago - Recommended

"...You're greeted by simplicity. A simple set, a simple backdrop and simple lighting. Only to quickly realize that the story unfolding is not simple at all. It's a statistical anomaly. After all, Samantha Brown's mom, Beverly, is a statistician, so she should know. "The Mad Ones" is a calculated musical risk-though however you look at it, Blank Theatre Company's production comes out ahead."