Los Angeles Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...As long as the action is centered firmly in Katarina's flamenco studio, "Heart Song" pulsates with percussive rhythm. It's when Sachs ventures out of flamenco and into soap opera that his initially compelling new play stumbles badly."
LA Weekly - Recommended
"...It becomes a drama about coping with loss, in which Rochelle enacts the Yahrzeit ceremony, marking the anniversary of the death of a loved one, with her flamenco circle in a tender and beautiful ritual."
Broadway World - Recommended
"...Boasting top-notch direction from Shirley Jo Finney and a resplendent cast, Heart Song is a life-affirming poem that must be experienced at the Fountain Theatre through July 14."
LAist - Somewhat Recommended
"...There's a good deal more sentimentality than drama in this drama about a flamenco support group in downtown Manhattan, which progresses more through its characters' personal revelations than through any actions they take. Still, director Shirley Jo Finney's lively, warm-blooded production, with an excellent cast and intermittent choreography by Maria Bermudez, serves the play so well that its shortcomings are largely obscured."
Stage and Cinema - Not Recommended
"...It's no small feat when a play inspires me to do something with my life. While watching Stephen Sachs' Heart Song at the Fountain, I felt compelled to join a Flamenco class inmediatamente. The problem was I wanted to bolt from the theater during this play to do so. But here's the caveat about this formulaic, chick-flick twaddle: My Jewish Cats-loving mom would probably love it. So, while my optic nerves may have ached from all of the necessary eye-rolling, a few in the audience (all women that I could see) were wiping away tears at play's end."
The Hollywood Reporter - Recommended
"...Appropriately, Shirley Jo Finney, who has directed so many fine productions at the Fountain in recent years, applies a professional efficiency that keeps the dialogue snappy, the pace brisk, and the pathos credibly restrained. She truly excels with the relationships among the principal characters, which generate touchingly affectionate warmth without scanting bristling dueling wounds."
LA Splash - Recommended
"...The play, itself, was so both funny and sad at the same time. Sachs deserves kudos for being able to effectively merge the two genres in such a seamless fashion."
Stage Scene LA - Recommended
"....Flamenco and friendship join forces to help a middle-aged Jewish single New Yorker recover from the death of her 91-year-old mother in Stephen Sachs' laughter-and-tear-packed new dramedy Heart Song."
StageHappenings.com - Recommended
"...Written by the esteemed Stephen Sachs and directed by the solid Shirley Jo Finney, the writing, direction and casting are sublime. A strong plot, superb acting, excellent Flamenco music and history, with the basic steps outlined by these non-professional dancers who have their own reasons for attending such a class and becoming part of such a family, make for an entertaining – and wise – evening."
ArtsInLA - Somewhat Recommended
"...Helmed at a measured, rhythmic pace by Shirley Jo Finney, the first act informs the second act but doesn't illuminate it."
On Stage Los Angeles - Recommended
"...The extraordinarily moving power of Flamenco keeps the story and the characters alive. Workable set by Tom Buderwitz and nice direction by Shirley Jo Finney complete the kind of show we expect from The Fountain."
Total Theater - Recommended
"...Bermudez gives the piece its soul; Dunlap its singing heart. Together with the other six actors - and with the help of Finney's skillful direction - they make Heart Song ring out loud and clear at the Fountain."
Working Authur - Recommended
"...Dunlap, Tomita and Jennings are actresses of stunning talent. Bermudez is a force of nature. Sachs and Finney have given them the means and the guidance to channel their gifts into an exultation of the human spirit, and, in doing so, the Fountain Theatre has once again given Los Angeles theater worth celebrating."
The Los Angeles Post - Recommended
"...Heart Song, a warm and complex exploration of loss, tradition, myth and faith that is so extraordinary I wanted to jump up and shout "bravo" when the lights came up. For some reason, I held myself back and I don't know why because it deserved that much and more."
