Los Angeles Times - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Stage Kiss" is a whipped dessert that's cheerfully served on a set by Keith Mitchell that shows off the Geffen's proscenium to fetching advantage. But it's not easy to make a meal out of a meringue."
LA Weekly - Not Recommended
"...Ruhl's reverence for the transformative effect of both theater and love is clear through the last gentle monologue, but it's not quite enough to elevate everything that comes before, pleasant enough though the journey is. The artifice that has previously transported her audiences to strange, revelatory landscapes is largely absent from Stage Kiss. In the end, the play's biggest letdown is how commonplace it is."
Broadway World - Recommended
"...I have long been a fan of plays that present an insider's look at what goes on behind-the-scenes at a theatrical production. A fine example of such a backstage farce is Sarah Ruhl's STAGE KISS, skillfully directed by Bart DeLorenzo who knows exactly how to make the most outrageous stage antics and romances seem not only probable but incredibly hysterical thanks to Sarah Ruhl's fast-paced script that leads us on-stage, back-stage and out the stage door as reality collides with fiction in this raucous and revealing relationship comedy."
Stage and Cinema - Not Recommended
"...Indeed, most of the actors seemed like they were supposed to be acting poorly in a poorly written play in community theater. (And poor Stephen Caffrey, one of my favorite actors, was positively floundering as the on- and offstage husband.) But if this is community theater, where the hell did they get the money for those lavish sets? I don't get it. Neither does Mr. DeLorenzo."
The Hollywood Reporter - Recommended
"...Enough cannot be said of the supporting cast, beginning with Bagley as the Director and Montgomery as his assistant. Together they constitute a strong comedic combine as they helplessly watch both productions slip from their grasp. Rounding out the ensemble, Caffrey, James and Butiu are each effective in lesser roles that seem underwritten. But even if Stage Kiss is flawed, it's way too much fun to care."
LA Splash - Recommended
"...The play literally explodes into your consciousness with a riot of very funny situations and people. A surprise star in these proceedings is Keith Mitchell's ever-changing sets - sometimes so quick that they seem almost magical."
Stage Scene LA - Recommended
"...Noël Coward meets Noises Off meets Conor McPherson when a couple of onetime lovers find themselves lip-locked once again in not one but two not-so-brilliant regional theater productions in Sarah Ruhl's scrumdiddlyumptious backstage comedy Stage Kiss, now getting its West Coast Premiere at the Geffen Playhouse."
TheatreMania - Not Recommended
"...While audiences will accept the imaginary world of A Midsummer's Night's Dream because Shakespeare has primed them to not take the realm seriously, if Arthur Miller's characters suddenly sprouted wings and flew around the stage, the audience would get frustrated. Sarah Ruhl's Stage Kiss needs to anchor itself in an understandable world or let loose and become a complete lampoon. It endeavors to do both, but sadly ends up doing neither well."
KCRW - Somewhat Recommended
"...In the end, "Stage Kiss"� is a touching, funny, redemptive evening in the theater. If you're a theater person, you'll laugh knowingly, you'll see the paths that were not taken (dramaturgically and maybe personally) and you'll wish it was a little shorter. But if you love theater, don't let that stop you. There's enough comedy to forgive the lack of tragedy."
