Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Zimmerman's great obsession, of course, is transformation. Fans of "The Arabian Nights," "Metamorphoses," "The Odyssey," "Argonautika" and most of her other self-adapted compositions know this well. If you see this particular show (and you should), you'll find here the theoretical and intellectual underpinning of what came later to Chicago, to Broadway, to New York's Metropolitan Opera."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Tony-winning Mary Zimmerman's "Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci" isn't so much a drama about da Vinci as it is a showcase of visual wonders curated by the director/adaptor, accompanied by greeting-card-sized sound bites from the great Renaissance genius. The 29th anniversary revival in the Goodman's Owen theater offers a grab bag of beguiling visual flourishes as it spotlights segments Zimmerman has culled from the 5,000 pages of notebooks left behind by the 15th century polymath."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...Essentially a meditation on creation and invention, the play unfolds as vignettes in which members of the ensemble -- Adeoye, Christiana Clark, Christopher Donahue (who appeared in Goodman's 1993 debut), Kasey Foster, Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel, John Gregorio, Anthony Irons and Wai Yim -- take turns playing Leonardo. While the artist expounds on such subjects as painting, anatomy, aeronautics, love and the forces of nature, the rest of the cast illustrate his observations in a series of sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant scenes, all of which are underscored by Zimmerman's singular wit and whimsy."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Zimmerman's brand of storytelling has become far more commonplace than it was 30 years ago (in part thanks to the success she found after Notebooks with more familiar texts such as Ovid's Metamorphoses). Some sections feel a bit arid and academic. But overall, da Vinci's meditations on force, weight, perspective, and so much more still have the power to move and intrigue us, and Zimmerman's eight-member cast (which includes one vet of the first production, Charles Donahue) brings grace, fluidity, wit, and sometimes aching poignancy to this kaleidoscopic portrait of a polymath."
Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...While watching this production might inspire us to take a closer look at Leonardo's writings for ourselves, I felt that the project of relating his notebooks writ large seems dubious, since the audience is never really drawn into the character of Leonardo. Reciting his encyclopedic works on stage does not necessarily lend itself to curiosity on our part; it does lend itself to boredom. When ninety-nine percent of the performance is devoted to showcasing Leonardo's logic, this enervates Leonardo the man, and we lose sight of the real live human being who once walked the earth. I would have liked to have seen his conflicts with the Church of his era and his rivalry with Michelangelo and learn something about the political and social context of his writings."
WTTW - Recommended
"...On the plus side, the show, largely adapted from Leonardo's copious notebooks and other writings (of which there are said to be thousands of pages), suggests the many obsessions of this remarkable polymath, compulsive observer and unstoppable analyst of the natural phenomena that were key to his work as an artist, inventor, scientist, philosopher and more. And Bradley's set design - vast walls suggesting giant wooden file cabinets whose "drawers" periodically slide open in a variety of ways to reveal countless different things, and can be seen as a three-dimensional version of the notebooks - is back, but seems larger and more complex."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...For a genuinely remarkable theatrical experience, Mary Zimmerman's scholarly and artistic masterpiece is well worth a visit. While it might be argued that this theatrical piece, which is on overload with information, isn't exactly a play. But it oozes with dramatic spectacle for the eye, ear, intellect and imagination. Featuring a gifted cast of multitalented actors, guided by one of the great director and playwrights of our time, and supported by a talented team of theatre artists, audiences once again have an opportunity to explore the mind of Leonardo da Vinci, the Ultimate Renaissance Man."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...The Goodman Theatre's remounting of Mary Zimmerman's landmark and career-launching work The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci is as wondrous as it was in 1993. Highly visual and incorporating a visceral movement vocabulary, it is a work that speaks to the senses and the intellect. However, if you think you are going to the Goodman's Owen Theatre to see a "play" with a plot and a conflict, you may be confused. Let go of all expectations of linear narrative, release definitions and genres, and you will be delighted and amazed. This 90 minutes without intermission literally brings the voluminous notebooks of this genius to life and it is an experience like no other."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...The play itself is fascinating from its opening moments, and its aural and visual beauty (the latter enhanced by Mara Blumenfeld's costumes), as well as its transcendent philosophical constructs will make the non-artists in the audience see life in new ways. Not many plays can provide solid and varied entertainment and be potentially life-altering at the same time, but this is one of them."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...This is Ms. Zimmerman's real victory, I think-sifting and assembling dialogue from da Vinci's own words and creating such an eloquent path for the ensemble to walk. The actors do so with authentic energy and commitment. They must be exhausted by evening's end, being a kind of profound paradigm for the director's vision with so much quick action and dialogue occurring simultaneously onstage. It reminds one of an old Chuck Braverman film, where the frames were as short as a half-second... which made one realize that we are dealing with what is arguably the closest thing to a human computer that the world has ever produced."
TotalTheater - Recommended
"...Despite the advantages bestowed by the Goodman's Owen auditorium—notably, its abundance of theatrical toys and the casting of an actor or two whose verbal, as well as anatomical, prowess serves to guide us through this dazzling wonderland—playgoers may yet emerge puzzled by Zimmerman's departure from conventional dramaturgy (particularly during the lull in the last third of the running time). No need for shame, though—if it took the rest of America eight years to overcome their culture shock, no one will blame you for not getting it all in just eighty minutes."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...The staging is magnificent with avant-garde props like filing cabinets to the roof, that pull out to reveal inventions, a restaurant, and nature scenes. There are birdcages made of golden ribbons, arches reminiscent of renaissance architecture, bars to hang from, to climb on, and a swing to demonstrate physic principles. Assistant Lighting Designer, Madeline Reid, creates visuals critical to our understanding of shadows and perspectives in art."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...Rarely do I see theater that feels truly unique, but Mary Zimmerman's THE NOTEBOOKS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI at Goodman Theater is indeed unlike any other piece of theater. Zimmerman first mounted this production at the Goodman for the first time 29 years ago and now it returns - along with cast member Christopher Donahue, who appeared in that 1993 staging."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...There is no other playwright-director, alive or dead, like Mary Zimmerman. She creates work that only her mind is capable of. This play was first produced at the Goodman in 1993, the same year that Lookingglass did her "Arabian Nights," and established her as a creative genius. She won a MacArthur "genius" award five years later, in 1998. You might also consider that, while watching the show. It's genius, both subject and playwright."
