Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...This Equity production, sitting down for several weeks at the Broadway Playhouse (fingers crossed) is an example of something for which I long have advocated: an original production of a Broadway show but with a Chicago-based cast hoping for a long run in their home city."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"..."The Play That Goes Wrong" could also be titled "The Play That's Too Long." Each is accurate. The driving ethos in the slapstick comedy that's been running since 2012 in London's West End? More is more. If one spit take is hilarious, a dozen are exponentially so. If one bonk on the head is funny, best to repeat it over and over, sometimes in exaggerated slo-mo."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...The laughs come fast and frequently in director Matt DiCarlo's production, which boasts a terrific cast comprised mostly of highly skilled comedic actors with strong Chicago ties."
Chicago Reader - Not Recommended
"...It hardly matters, as whodunit posthaste becomes less interesting than please, when will it end? There are approximately five jokes in this play, all repeated until each dead horse has been shot, drawn, quartered, marinated in salt, and made into glue."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...For those looking for a much-needed escape, head directly to The Play That Goes Wrong. This laugh riot physical comedy will charm even the dourest of souls. The harmless silliness will make you forget mask mandates (but do wear your mask and bring your current vaccination card or current negative test results for entry to the theater) and world woes. Who couldn't be grateful for that? Wrong is just the correct amount of much needed right!"
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...What could go wrong with a play entitled "The Play That Goes Wrong"? Plenty! This is the story about the performance of a murder mystery where everything on stage can and does go wrong. Brilliantly written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, the show is a 2-hour farce (plus intermission) that uses an invented story called "The Murder at Haversham Manor" as its basis. The fun begins the moment the audience must tease out the invented script from the script of "The Play That Goes Wrong." As we weed through the mishaps, missteps, and misconstruals, we witness lots of things, such as a spotlight that misses its mark and a set that doesn't want to stay in place from the get-go."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...By the end of this production, audiences will have laughed at every theatrical blunder, miscue, faux pas, snafu and slip of the tongue to ever be seen in a play. From guns that won't fire ("Just die, for Christ's sake!"), mistaken sound effects and a stage set and a lighting grid on the verge of completely falling apart ("Death and destruction shall prevail"), theatergoers of all ages will be gasping for air after having laughed their heads off. The final line of the play declares, "Let us hope we never again see a murder at Haversham Manor." But, every appreciative audience member will probably be saying, "Oh please, let us hope that we do!""
Third Coast Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...The opening night audience roared with laughter at every line spoken. The laughter became even more uproarious as the play, the murders, scenery accidents and pratfalls progressed. The gentleman sitting behind me must have been exhausted by the time the play ended two-plus hours later. He was never silent. He clearly enjoyed the show. So did the rest of the audience."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...It's a cast that commits itself fully and joyfully to every miserable event. Actors playing actors who play characters in a murder-mystery. We see everything go terribly awry, and we absolutely go along with it all. One actor playing a butler forgets his lines and refers to them, written down on his hand. Another (a stagehand) is shoved into a role herself-script in hand-when her predecessor onstage is literally knocked out with an open door and is dragged through an open window to help the action continue. Still another actor/character loves the limelight so much that he allows his awareness of the proceedings to filter into his character and thus begins flirting and smiling and laughing with the actual audience. And when the set itself begins to disintegrate, well..."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...It's Act One, and the set is falling apart. The large portrait is sliding off the wall on stage right. Hooks are falling off the walls by the door, and the mantle simply cannot stay up on its own. Thomas Colleymoore and Cecil Haversham are physically holding up as much as they can, supporting the set with various limbs and body parts. Just when you think something else cannot possibly go wrong, the phone rings. It's for Thomas. With every possible limb supporting a hook or door, we see Cecil answer the phone and stretch as far as possible - just enough that Thomas might be able to yell into the receiver from his compromising position. This Opening Night audience could not stop laughing, but regardless, mission was accomplished."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...The actors certainly give it their all and it clicked enough of the time for a diverting evening, but often seemed to overdo it with the overdoing it. What's more, the scripted mayhem didn't achieve the kind of transcendent choreographed chaos that the best slapstick demands. The set is doubtlessly the most sterling performer in the show, and nearly all the comedic and dramatic tension relies on its reliable failures, many of which are fun to anticipate and many others that delightfully surprise."