Los Angeles Times - Recommended
"...I wish I could report that the acting was equal to the scenic imagination. This still strikes me as a production that doesn't have all that much faith in Shakespeare's ability to captivate a modern audience."
LA Weekly - Recommended
"...A Shakespeare text is far more than merely the sum of its elegant language. When it's successfully staged - and often that's despite radical pruning, contemporizing concept overlays or outright adaptation - it becomes a Renaissance Gesamtkunstwerk, an encompassing treatise of moral philosophy articulated with drama, spectacle, music and dance. The Q.E.D. of that philosophic argument is always found in the persuasive force of a defining performance.That's exactly what's on offer in a majestic and thrilling, semi-musicalized adaptation of The Tempest, now in the midst of a must-see, three week run at South Coast Rep."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...To avoid being the one person in your circle not to have seen it, you should see it. To enjoy theater as illuminating, stimulating, transportive entertainment, you should see it."
The Hollywood Reporter - Recommended
"...Certainly there can be greater riches mined from this frequently sublime play. Nevertheless, Nelis' rendition of the final speech - which, in its wisdom that what matters most in life must be to abjure all rancor and grudge for generosity of soul, may possibly be the finest of all of Shakespeare - here proves every bit as transporting as in many a better production of The Tempest. The Bard wrote a great closing soliloquy to his career, and Teller & Co. fulfilled the primary task of making it ring true."
LA Splash - Recommended
"...Originally produced by the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, The Tempest takes an assortment of diverse, dynamic ingredients-magic and illusion, a 1930s Dust Bowl traveling tent show setting, and songs by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan-and mixes them together as though it were a witches brew, resulting in a phenomenal visual and emotional feast for those who love theater, magic, and a simple story about love and forgiveness. Brilliant acting, delicate direction and spectacular magic make The Tempest a profoundly perfect production for SCR as it begins its 51st season."
StageHappenings.com - Recommended
"...But along comes Aaron Posner, a playwright (the brilliant Stupid Fucking Bird recently at Boston Court) as well as a distinguished director, Teller (of Penn and Teller), Johnny Thompson (magic designer), to create FINALLY a truly magical Tempest. Add to that a wonderful cast, a great set of designers, music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Pilobolus who designed the movement and choreography, and the result is a Tempest for the ages."
On Stage Los Angeles - Recommended
"...It's difficult to articulate with complete success the wonderful casting, staging and over all effect of this production. South Coast Repertory has brought drop dead professional theatre to Southern California for years and this is no exception. Superior to every single venue that I've been fortunate to see theatre in, this jewel of a complex tucked away in Costa Mesa sparkles with the anticipation of the wonderfulness yet to come. The money is on the stage!"
OC Register - Recommended
"..."The Tempest" has always been one of Shakespeare's more problematic plays, but a delightfully unorthodox production that opened South Coast Repertory's 2014-15 season makes the script's shortcomings forgivable, or at least does a good job of distracting us at crucial moments."
TheatreTimes.org - Recommended
"...The production's magic is sufficient to drop jaws and earn applause numerous times without cracking the theatrical conceit and continuity."
OC Weekly - Recommended
"...What's most remarkable about this show is that the astonishing illusions, Waits' gritty, Americana-steeped tunes and the traveling-tent-show feel of the production in no way gets in the way of Shakespeare's tale. Rarely is a Tempest this clear and faithful to the script, while also so fresh and contemporary. Which sounds weird, as the script is 400 years old and the production's costumes, set and ambiance resemble a traveling carnival show à la Springsteen's Wild Billy's Circus Song."
Cultural Weekly - Recommended
"...However, I know that what you've been waiting for is a final and simpler determination: Does it all work? Astonishingly, it does. It takes a while to set aside a sense that parts of the play are being bent to serve the magic rather than the other way around. But as the production develops, and especially as we get deeper into the gorgeous lyricism of Prospero's elegiac speeches, Posner and Teller have the good sense to leave well enough alone. It is an unmistakable show of respect for Shakespeare's own brand of magic. The verbal kind."
KCRW - Somewhat Recommended
"...But more importantly, the magic of Teller begins to usurp the magic of Shakespeare. For me, what's mesmerizing about the Bard are the tricks his words work on your imagination. By making Prospero's magic so overt – so much a stage show – he's oddly reduced to just those tricks, those gimmicks. The words become an obstacle, something to wink at and hurry through."
