Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...This production is anchored dramatically by Thomas M. Shea, who offers a deep and unstinting dive into Peachum, a nasty piece of work, and musically by Megan Elk, who plays his missus. Then you’ve got the beating hearts of Polly Peachum, essayed sans guile but with craft by Chamaya Moody, and old Lucy Brown, rather deliciously played by Nathe Rowbotham. Carl Herzog is a decent, if conventional, Macheath, but the show is directed to showcase the ensemble and there are little gems all over the place."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Kurt Weill’s score, which includes pieces relevant to the theme but completely ancillary to the plot (such as “Pirate Jenny,” a hotel maid’s fantasy of killing the guests) magnifies the problem of getting to and staying on point. Staging the show in every corner of the space while a number of audience members sit in the middle of the action exacerbates the problem of focus: wherever you’re facing is the wrong way. Under the music direction of Ryan Brewster (who also supplies the solo piano accompaniment), the show includes the fine voices we’ve come to expect of this company. Carl Herzog as Macheath and Liz Bollar as antiheroine Jenny have both the vocal and acting chops to put their songs across, but the piece as a whole never gels."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...This Three Penny is practically perfect, for the aficionado and the newbie. You may feel uncomfortable at how much you enjoy this sordid tale of petty crooks, ladies with no other options and creepy exploiters, but you will be glad you spent the evening in their company, perhaps with a cocktail ordered from Jenny's bar."
Around The Town Chicago
- Recommended
"...“The Threepenny Opera” under the direction of Artistic Director Fred Anzevino, is a striking and beautiful version of the story. Macheath (Carl Herzog is masterful) is the villain. He is a thief and his gang is notorious. He is also a lover that mates with every woman available and as the story unfolds we get to meet his stable of females. Macheath is also best friends with the Constable, Tiger Brown (Michael Mejia), an old army buddy."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...The very nature of “The Threepenny Opera” has led to countless discussions over the decades about how it should be categorized. The consensus seems to be to call it a Play with Music, rather than a Musical Comedy. According to one critic, the work is “the weightiest possible lowbrow opera for highbrows and the most full-blooded highbrow musical for lowbrows.” I must admit that the show might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the sheer array of talent on the Theo Ubique stage, and Anzevino’s exquisitely directed production, are nothing short of stellar."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre
- Recommended
"...Director Fred Anzevino doubles down on Theo’s trademark raw, up-close-and-personal staging, and together with scenic designer Mara Ishihara Zinky creates a creepy cabaret ambiance, complete with onstage seats. Music director and pianist Ryan Brewster is a juggernaut performer with an astute ear. Barreling through Weill’s score with unyielding precision, Brewster also demonstrates his sense of dynamics as a vocal director. The ensemble is tightly locked to the grit, beauty, and character of the score."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...The songs in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera remain standards: “Pirate Jenny,” “Tango Ballad,” and especially “Mack the Knife,” which is arguably the world’s most famous murder ballad, recorded by everyone from Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin to Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé. But perhaps more than composer Weill’s music, it is playwright Brecht’s lyrics that resonate the most today. On Howard Street, Evanston’s Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre is offering a vibrant, must-see version of Brecht and Weill’s satirical folk opera in its intimacabaret space. Directed by Fred Anzevino and with music director Ryan Brewster at the helm, the show may run close to three hours, but it moves at a brisk pace thanks to the engaging cast and terrific performances."
Picture This Post
- Highly Recommended
"...With a soft leap that emphasizes her delicate and elegant bearing, chanteuse Chamay Moody as Polly hops on Theo Ubique’s room length bar and begins her first solo, Pirate Jenny. Like many others in the cast, her voice seems classically trained. Many in the Theo Ubique audience, like this writer, probably first heard this song in a Judy Collins rendition back in the day. Here though, in the context of Bertolt Brecht’s musical screed about capitalism, the seething class rage in Polly’s song has more clarity. She sings of when the upper class gets their comeuppance. Brecht gives her words to imagine the day when she – our comely poster girl of the lower class-- is finally seen."
Evanston Roundtable
- Recommended
"...Together the cast is an assembly of fine actors and singers. Their ensemble work is a compliment to Theo. In The Threepenny Opera, they have taken on the complicated task of performing a play with music that today has a mixed message of satire and melodrama. I think it is going to be one of those productions either really loved or not."
NewCity Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...There’s nothing “nice” about “Threepenny,” a no-holds-barred assault on every aspect of bourgeois existence, from religion to marriage and family to the military to law and order. Directed by Theo Ubique’s co-founder and artistic director Fred Anzevino, this production captures the work’s aggressive rawness and decadent, Weimar-era atmosphere, while keeping it relevant for a modern audience dealing with our own century’s manifestations of corruption, injustice and hypocrisy."
