LA Splash - Highly Recommended
"...Director Moosie Drier helms the creative wanderings of these creatures with skill and humor. Kudos to writer/adaptor/actor Gilvezan, who does a bang-up job of portraying the delightful Archy, who manages to turn a cockroache into a very likeable and clever being with something important to say. And let's not forget about the kittenish Mehitabel, whose street life gives new meaning to freedom. In fact, kudos to the entire ensemble cast (Gilverzan, Hennesy, Chott, Horvitz, and Stables), who have just the right amount of joi de vivre to continuously "bug" the audience."
ArtsBeatLA - Highly Recommended
"...Magical realism and whimsy helps The Secret World of Archy & Mehitabel to feel like Kafka minus the nihilism-don't miss this wonderful production!"
On Stage Los Angeles - Highly Recommended
"..."the secret world of archy and mehitabel" is an unmitigated hit that can only blossom as the run continues."
NoHoArtsDistrict - Highly Recommended
"...The Secret World of Archy & Mehitabel is an absolutely brilliant piece of theatre. In the truest sense of the word. It gleams and sparkles with wit, humor, and an utterly unique and gorgeously whimsical nature. Each character, whether insect or animal, resonates with a gloriously vivid charm, sweetly crafted, warmly written and affectionately played."
Stage Raw - Highly Recommended
"...The Secret World of Archy and Mehitabel will welcome your young ones of ages 10 and up, and offer some jokes for the big kids, too. Audience members should be aware of content warnings for brief visuals of insects and spiders as well as brief discussion of suicide. And who knows? You might find yourself lingering in the secret world long after the curtain has fallen."
Theatre Notes - Highly Recommended
"...I imagine that modern up-to-the minute people have no idea about Archy and Mehitabel, a creation of Don Marquis, a columnist for The Evening Sun newspaper in New York City back in 1916. I seem to have some notion that I may have come across the characters decades ago. In the delightfully entertaining one-act play by Dan Gilvezan, The Secret World of Archy and Mehitabel, Archy is a literate cockroach, a creature that was once a human being and now is a person that sneaks into Marquis’s office and types messages on the newspaper man’s typewriter that looks very much like an 1916 Antique LC Smith No8 Desktop Typewriter. He is limited, naturally, having no fingers and virtually no weight, so he jumps on the keys to make an impression."
Ticket Holders LA - Recommended
"...Still, the true heart of this production is the hilarious. indelibly imaginative turn by Carolyn Hennesy as Mehitabel, whose first long-awaited spotlighted star entrance, accompanied by thunderous applause (the flashing sign tells us to), could rival anything once assayed by Loretta Young. Henessey is both outrageously funny and heartbreakingly poignant as the pampered and perpetually horny feline abandoned to the streets after attacking her family’s new dog. It’s always a pleasure and a privilege to see Hennesy return to her theatrical roots on the LA stage after making the schedule-sucking transition to beloved Daytime Emmy-nominated TV star."
