Talkin Broadway - Not Recommended
"...In this, as in nearly everything else, Dorian's Descent just doesn't seem fully thought-out. There are entertaining moments, and the costumes are dazzling, but way too much seems to be thrown in along with Wilde's original story, and the resulting creation is simply not coherent enough to survive as an artistic whole."
LA Splash - Recommended
"...In all, the play was enjoyable, but as I said, often dragged because of the length of the songs. Shortening them would have made the three hours go by a lot faster and with more interest. Even so, Dorian's Descent is based on a classic that everyone should be familiar with if not before than definitely now."
Stage Scene LA - Not Recommended
"...A quartet of stellar performers, a gifted composer/musical director, and L.A.'s costume designer du jour at his most over-the-top fabulous can't, unfortunately, save the Oscar Wilde-based World Premiere musical Dorian's Descent from descending into three hours' worth of clichéd dialog and lyrics, jarring tonal shifts, and good intentions gone disastrously bad."
ReviewPlays.com - Somewhat Recommended
"...Overall this effort has many laudatory elements which taken on their own are excellent but when glommed together as the sum of the parts, leave many holes agape. Lyrics could be tighter and more intelligible, songs could be shorter and the overall pace could be more brisk."
Examiner - Recommended
"...But some less than perfect elements aside it is overall a very captivating show that displays an abundance of superb talent at every level. And one very strong selling point is that "Dorian's Descent" is not simply yet again another old Broadway musical repeat. It is a courageous effort and very much worth ones time to see and enjoy."
The Tolucan Times - Recommended
"...A HAUNTINGLY SURREALISTIC story about a young man who loses himself to the evils of nightlife… this is a bawdy extravaganza, loaded with colorful performances!"
BlogCritics.org - Not Recommended
"...I've seen some good stuff staged by DOMA (Tommy) and some travesties (Jacques Brel). The company tends toward musical superproductions, but frequently these lofty ambitions can result in a jumbled end-product. Such is the case here."
ArtsInLA - Not Recommended
"...All of this might not matter if the score were brilliant enough. And in the few more-operatic numbers, it generates some excitement, but the score is woozily eclectic-including a number evoking Dreamgirls, as well as rather goofy power ballads presumably intended to add depth to the character of Dorian. The final silliness comes with a song toward the end, in which Dorian- after seducing and abandoning Sybil and driving her to suicide, haunting opium dens, and committing a couple of murders-wonders, "Is it the picture or is it me?" Face it, kid: It's you."
Culture Spot LA - Somewhat Recommended
"...A major flaw of this show is that there are no sympathetic characters to root for and/or no delicious villains to root against (the closest would be Kelly Brighton's unlikable agent Henry)."
Grigware Blogspot - Not Recommended
"...It is most unfortunate when a show bases itself on brilliance, namely Oscar Wilde and The Picture of Dorian Gray, and then falls far beneath its predecessor. Despite some quite wonderful technical work in sets, costumes and lighting design, stylish choreography and some fine singing from its actors, Dorian's Descent is hard to pinpoint as it never truly ascends. Now onstage at the MET theatre, the rock-opera-like musical, which one had hoped to be unforgettable, really is, but for all the wrong reasons. Yes, it has miles of ambiance, but not much more!"
Gia on the Move - Not Recommended
"...Intermission finally happened at 10pm. And yet, there were 8 more songs to go. What should have been a triumphant musical debut ended up as an exhausting, overly-long, awkward vocal translation."