Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...There are some jarring moments when contemporary speech clashes with Wilde’s 19th-century bon mots, but the dissonance paradoxically adds to the message once one adjusts to this production’s jagged rhythms. Perhaps the cleverest touch is the imaginative way in which Gray’s portrait ages. Beauty, in every age, really is in the eye of the beholder."
Stage and Cinema - Not Recommended
"...This botched experiment, an overly-deliberate, 135-minute revival, never achieves the momentum or urgency of its source. It fails to honor Oscar Wilde’s cunning combination of wit and horror."
Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...Paul Edwards’ new adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s iconic novel has both its good and bad points. The playwright’s decision to set his play in the Big Apple during the hedonistic, pleasure-seeking 1970’s is inspired. That time and place make the story feel more timely and easier for modern audiences to appreciate. However, the production could’ve gone further in depicting that swinging era. There’s far too much talking and not enough doing; indeed, actions often do speak louder than words. Some of the technical elements don’t further enhance a production that’s paced too slowly, although credit goes to a talented cast who make the most of their storytelling experience."
Third Coast Review - Not Recommended
"...Director Andrea J. Dymond does her best with this material but she is not able to bring the casting and performances up to City Lit standards. Scott Olson, playing Dorian’s hedonist friend, Henry (Harry) Wotton, provides the best performance. He speaks in the voice of Oscar Wilde, and, of course, gets all the good lines. “Beauty is more important than genius.” And “there’s only one thing worse than being talked about and that’s not being talked about.” And meeting with Dorian 14 years after the initial portrait, “Dorian, what is your secret to youth and beauty? To get back my youth, I would do anything—except exercise.”"
Chicago Theater and Arts - Recommended
"...This is a drama in which the dialogue is the essence of the story. The cast was a little unsteady and awkward in the first act but thankfully gained steam as the story progressed. In Act Two Ferreira hit his stride and began to own the part."
Chicago On Stage - Not Recommended
"...City Lit’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of those shows that ought to work better than it does. A strong piece of literature to adapt, a Jeff Ward winning adapter, great direction, and at least one outstanding performance: it would seem that it all adds up to a positive review. However, something went significantly awry with this one, and it begins with the adaptation."
Picture This Post - Somewhat Recommended
"...What we do have is a script full of inside theater world laugh lines, and more than a few moments of very good acting throughout by the entire cast. Javier Ferreira could be the poster boy for a narcissistic disorder in a psychiatric diagnostic manual—never overplaying his lines. Especially in Act II, Scott Olson pierces us as he presents himself covered with AIDS lesions. Ryan Leonard, playing a Vietnam soldier spit upon at airports or a closet case trying to protect his secret identity, was a standout in every moment when he hit the stage."
