First review for NEXT TO NORMAL is a rave!

First review for NEXT TO NORMAL is a rave!

Our first review came in, hot off the virtual presses, from Charles Kruger and TheatreStorm.com  Charles has a lot of interesting things to say about the performances and the excellent production values, and says “This is a show that everyone can appreciate, but anybody who has direct experience in living with mental illness will find it especially moving.”

Read it all here: https://theatrestorm.com/2013/09/18/review-next-to-normal-at-custom-made-theatre-company/

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The “little man” is clapping for WHY TORTURE IS WRONG…!

The “little man” is clapping for WHY TORTURE IS WRONG…!

Our first review is in, and its a big one.  The San Francisco Chronicle covered our opening night and we are thrilled to share this very positive review!

2.0Robert Hurwitt, the dean of SF critics, writes, “The comedy and theatrical invention in “Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them” are as zany and pointed as you’d expect from Christopher Durang… much of the comedy is as immediate as today’s debates about gun control, pre-emptive drone strikes and (courtesy of “Zero Dark Thirty”) “enhanced” interrogation techniques…. Durang’s provocative comedy offers considerable rewards.”
Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Why-Torture-Is-Wrong-review-4200017.php#ixzz2ICPLYGRi

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Why-Torture-Is-Wrong-review-4200017.php#ixzz2ICP7nWRC

First two reviews for THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY are in!

First two reviews for THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY are in!

We got our first two reviews today, and they are both very positive.

First from Lee Hartgrave, writing for ForAllEvents.com

“The Actors are “Awesome!”… They deserve a couple of Oscars… What a show! – “Wonderful and imaginative!”  4/4 Glasses of Champaign.  (ed-Yum!)

https://leehartgraveforallevents.blogspot.com/2012/09/albees-play-about-baby-compelling.html

And next from Kedar Adour, our Theatre MD (never a bad idea to have around!)

“a great cast… devious and inventive… this reviewer highly recommends seeing another side of Albee….you should not miss this production!”

https://forallevents.info/reviews/the-play-about-the-baby-has-a-great-cast/

 

Three more great MERCHANT reviews!

Three more great MERCHANT reviews!

They just keep coming, check ’em out!

From Lee Hartgrave, writing for BeyondChron.com and Lee Hartgrave Tonight!  https://leehartgraveforallevents.blogspot.com/

From Richard Connema, writing for ForAllEvents.com https://forallevents.info/reviews/richard-connema/

and finally a capsule review in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, which you can find here now, but it might disappear later, so here’s the text:

Custom Made Theater presents director Stuart Bousel’s generally sharp staging of Shakespeare’s perennially controversial but often-misunderstood play. The lively if uneven production ensures the involved storyline cannot be reduced to the problematical nature of its notorious Jewish villain, Shylock (played with a compellingly burdened intensity by a quick Catz Forsman), but rather has to be seen in a wider landscape of desire in which money, status, sex, gender, political and ethnic affiliations, and human bodies all mix, collide, and negotiate. To this end, this Merchant is set amid a contemporary financial district coterie (given plenty of scope in Sarah Phykitt’s thoughtfully pared-down scenic design), where titular melancholic businessman Antonio (Ryan Hayes) sticks his neck out (or anyway a pound of flesh) for his beloved friend Bassanio (Dashiell Hillman) — no doubt the unspoken source of Antonio’s brooding heart as staged here — as the latter seeks a loan with which to court the lovely and brilliant Portia (a winning Megan Briggs). While the subplot concerning the wooing and flight of Shylock’s daughter, Jessica (Kim Saunders), is less adeptly rendered, fluid pacing and a confident sense of the priorities of the drama overall offer a satisfying encounter with this fascinatingly subtle play. (Avila)