Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...If you follow new American works, try and see this show before it exits The Den, although I suspect (and hope) a larger theater will restage this production, perhaps as soon as this summer. I'd argue the impassioned Sulzberger needs to dial things back, just a notch, and the final five minutes needs some more thought. About 90% of this show is crystalline in imagery, honesty and idea; the less specific 10% needs more attention."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Much of the often-produced theatrical queer canon can feel stuck in time, stuck in New York, and stuck in a recurring handful of themes. One of the enduring successes of About Face Theatre, I've found, is the company's consistency in bucking that trend by producing work that feels current and raw and relevant across the broad spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community. The Magnolia Ballet is another step forward in that tradition, one that had me thoroughly enchanted by its spell."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...This brand of multiple-discipline presentation typically disintegrates into kaleidoscopic chaos faster than a shotgun-shack in the Okefenokee swamp. However, although Guest's ambitious narrative still struggled for uniform coherence in its first performances, the unfaltering guidance provided by director Mikael Burke, his shape-shifting cast, intriguing scenery, Brian Grimm's evocative musical score and Jen Freeman's shadowy movement design only leave us wanting to contemplate its mysteries further."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...THE MAGNOLIA BALLET's spellbinding message is provocatively candid and exhilaratingly refreshing. It not only opens the doors to the truth of our hatred but reminds us it's still alive and needs to be eradicated through understanding and love."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...The Magnolia Ballet is an exceptional show - perfect in performances, direction (Mikael Burke), staging. And then there's the script, by Terry Guest, who also plays the lead as Ezekiel "Z" Mitchell IV. While this show merits a Jeff without doubt, I believe it's Pulitzer material, at least in my book. Why?"
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Entering the Bookspan Theatre space at Den Theatre to see the world premiere of Magnolia Ballet, you are thrust into another world. (If you're lucky enough, you can practically enter that world by choosing a seat right onstage.) The play is set in present-day Georgia, but Steven Abbott's scenic design makes it seem alien and timeless."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"..."The Magnolia Ballet" draws that complicated triad of self, land and masculinity around the Mitchell family-well, two Mitchell families. In this town there is a white Mitchell family and a Black Mitchell family. So, Z, or Ezekiel Mitchell VI, played by playwright Terry Guest, is grappling with his teenage queerness as a Black man in Georgia while also disseminating pieces of the past. For Z, the sins of the father do not necessarily denote the sins of the son when it comes to his best friend Danny (Ben Sulzberger)."
