Broadway World - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Jennifer Chang keeps things moving at a brisk pace for the show's 90-minute runtime (with no intermission), though there are times some of the actors struggle with the text, speaking too quickly, not giving time for the words to land. At a couple of junctures, Everybody-the character, not the entire acting ensemble-is speaking and other actors are mouthing his words, but it's never in concert, so it's distracting. That said, most of the actors are so game they ease through, Harry Groener, Dawn Didawick, Tony Amendola, and Antonio Jaramillo-who played Everybody the night I saw the show-being particular standouts."
LA Splash - Highly Recommended
"...EVERYBODY is a fascinating and beguiling adventure which will certainly hold the audience’s attention. And it may be a given that, depending on the age of the audience member, each individual may see and experience things just a little differently. Jacobs-Jenkins also throws some tongue-in-cheek humor into the mix to update modern sensibilities. Chang skillfully helms the production and is amply rewarded by stunning performances by the uber-talented and seasoned ensemble cast. EVERYBODY is a little gem with lots of sparkle as life’s journey draws to a close (in a dumpster, of course)."
Stage Scene LA - Not Recommended
"...If 90 minutes of occasionally amusing but more often longwinded philosophizing about the meaning of (among other things) Life, Love, Friendship, Beauty, Material Possessions, and Death sounds like your thing, then Antaeus Theatre Company’s Everybody, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ 21st-century adaptation of a 600-year-old morality play, might just be your cup of tea. It wasn’t mine."
On Stage Los Angeles - Highly Recommended
"...Suffice it to say that this is a huge acting exercise that deserves to be experienced. From my early Humanties or maybe English class, the story of Everyman seems spot on. Jacobs-Jenkins has made everyone hip and the random selection of who plays whom each performance is really very impressive."
Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Jennifer Chang gets good work from her cast, but the staging seems somewhat bland. An idea that has voices speaking to Everybody displayed as flashing lights on a screen isn’t compelling as a visual element, although Nicholas Ponting’s Glendale-inspired red brick wall set does convey the Galleria neighborhood well. There are several things in Jacobs-Jenkins’ play that succeed (humorous dialogue, the opening “turn off your cellphones” announcement being built into the show itself) and several stylistic choices that don’t (various actors lip-synching Everybody’s dialogue, or half the cast starting seated in the audience – in Antaeus’ small space, it felt like a quarter of the audience was in the show), but the main problem is that Jacobs-Jenkins doesn’t seem to have anything of great import to say."
Haines His Way - Recommended
"...Everyman is a late 15th century morality play that uses allegorical characters to examine the question of Christian salvation and what Man must do to attain it. That text might be a bit too dry and pedantic for today’s audiences. In 2017, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins gave it a more modern spin and retitled it Everybody. Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale is currently presenting the 90-minute dramedy. If morality plays are your thing, you should check it out. The cast of nine features some stand out performers."
Peoples World - Recommended
"...Everybody, a funny, provocative, and utterly urbane, bawdy riff on death by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, premiered off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in 2017 and was a 2018 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Little could the playwright know—or anyone but the most far-seeing epidemiologists and public health analysts—how shortly a deadly pandemic would once again dominate the universe."
Ticket Holders LA - Highly Recommended
"...Still with the amazing talent both onstage and as part of the Antaeus team of worldclass designers and theatremakers, the above-title wonder here is the skill and talent of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who proves to be a genius at taking on an archaic 15-century morality play and making it blossom into totally watchable, highly enjoyable and relevant theatre for the 21st Century."