Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...There's big pent-up demand in these fraught and artistically wimpy times for this kind of smart, safety-valve satire, especially since Ulin has created a character so happily evil he can express things a lot of people would like to say but feel they cannot even think them. They'll all be chuckling away inside all night long and wondering about their chances of eternal life at the same time."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Playwright Rob Ulin's "Judgment Day" is a mildly amusing 30-minute sitcom inflated to fill two hours' traffic on the stage and gilded with a wafer-thin exploration of some of life's greatest moral conundrums."
Daily Herald - Somewhat Recommended
"...Best known as "Seinfeld's" George Costanza, Alexander stars as Sammy Campo, a corrupt lawyer facing eternal damnation who tries to finagle his way out of hell by doing good without actually being good. A charismatic comedic actor with excellent timing, Alexander delights in his Chicago stage debut, delivering playwright Rob Ulin's one-liners and director Moritz von Stuelpnagel's stage business like the pro he is."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...I love a good morality sitcom: I watched The Good Place in its entirety twice during the pandemic shutdown, for chrissake. But a lot of Ulin’s story (including the “points” system for getting into heaven) feels like it was lifted (deliberately or not) from Michael Schur’s NBC show. The rest feels like a self-conscious exercise in undergrad philosophical navel-gazing. (Do the ends, like, justify the means?) Much of the humor too feels dated. Buckley’s angel-nun turns into a rapacious vixen at one point, because Madonna/whore dichotomies are so very hilarious, of course."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...Thanksgiving Play, which premiered in 2018 at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, is so damned funny and so wildly inappropriate that it becomes irresistible. The 90-minute comedy spins out of control, yanking the guts out of our current political correctness. And frantic new forms of absurdism rise from the old, in the current production at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The transcendently funny play was written by Larissa FastHorse and is directed into a state of near-constant panic and invention by Jess McLeod."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel has leashed this talented ensemble into a witty clip that does not give the audience too long to contemplate these big questions, maintaining the fun of the show. It's quite a delightful romp as you plow through the big questions."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...I am sure they are working on updates on a regular basis. They need to tighten the ship a little for Broadway, but in the meantime, it is an entertaining and funny show with your chance to see George , oops- sorry, Jason Alexander on stage at The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre "The Yard" venue!"
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This cleverly-constructed adult comedy is the brilliant creation of playwright, and Golden Globe winner, Rob Ulin. He began his career in the entertainment field as the writer and producer of such hit TV shows as "Roseanne," "Malcolm in the Middle" and, more recently, "Young Sheldon." Ulin's comedy revolves around a main character who's more of an antihero. There's much about Sammy Campo that will remind theatergoers of the corrupt, dastardly Washington politicians who are currently in today's headlines. The play is also liberally peppered with profanity and four-letter words and, at times, is remarkably raunchy. The format of Mr. Ulin's play may resemble a sitcom, but only a show that would play on cable TV."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Crowds will flock to see "Judgment Day," having its world premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. While many will be drawn by its star, Emmy and Tony-winning actor Jason Alexander of "Seinfeld" fame (George Costanza), and he is definitely a draw-but just one of many-in this remarkably funny, highly polished play by Rob Ulin."
The Fourth Walsh - Somewhat Recommended
"...Alexander engages in this familial role. He also has a talented ensemble backing him up. Yet, even terrific acting can't save him from damnation when a play lacks substance. It's not surprising to find out Playwright Rob Ulin has three decades of TV comedy writing. JUDGEMENT DAY plays like a sitcom. It's light and frothy and has a simplistic premise easily solved in thirty minutes."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...The material itself is funny, and Alexander and Breaker have spot-on comedic timing. This particular performance’s audience was laughing hysterically—particularly as the differences between the priest and the corrupt lawyer shown through. However, if you listen carefully, you might just find that the true beauty of the scene is the way in which the two characters become closer—finding the similarities in the midst of their differences. As the two start to discuss the nuances of God and whether or not they believe, they begin to realize that they perhaps have more in common than they originally thought. Perhaps, despite all odds, there is potential for friendship."
Chicago Theater and Arts - Highly Recommended
"...Playwright Rob Ulin has skillfully wrapped this rather weighty philosophical discussion inside a fast-paced scenario of virtually non-stop humor. The joke riddled dialogue belies Ulin’s more than 30-year career in the world of television sitcoms learning at the knee of legendary writer/producer Norman Lear."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Jason Alexander is the perfect actor to play a deeply flawed but somehow sympathetic character; after all, he did it for nine seasons of Seinfeld as George Costanza. In Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s world premiere of Rob Ulin’s hilarious Judgment Day, Alexander’s unique ability to make us care about and laugh with perfectly awful characters reaches an apex: his Sammy Campo is the kind of guy who gives the people who give lawyers a bad name a bad name. He preys on the weak, lining his own pockets while he makes the fat cats fatter."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...There's a deliciously hilarious show now playing in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, a spritely, unabashed, comic romp that centers on a deceitful and wretched lawyer named Sammy Campo (Jason Alexander) who gets what everyone wants out of life: a second chance. The world premiere of "Judgment Day," with a whip-smart, no-holds-barred script by Rob Ulin that's loaded with laughs, casts the irrepressible Alexander as one of the most crass and insincere bottom feeders you will ever imagine, thanks as well to the crisp satiric direction of Moritz von Stuelpnagel."
Chicago Culture Authority - Highly Recommended
"...No matter. Playwright Rob Ulin tees up a steady stream of gags and Alexander, who picked the perfect piece for his Chicago stage debut, hits the punchlines out of the park under the no-nonsense (or, rather, all-nonsense) direction of Moritz von Stuelpnagel. That's not so shocking when you consider that Alexander won the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Jerome Robbins' Broadway."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...JUDGMENT DAY may be a world premiere comedy, but it trades in old-school jokes. Rob Ulin’s play is relatively simple and wears its moral heart on its sleeve (Main takeaway: Don’t be a jerk), even if lead role Sammy Campo doesn’t have a heart at all. While JUDGMENT DAY pokes some fun at the Catholic church, the play’s satire is not that deep. That said, this play is swiftly moving and delightfully entertaining, and it fully delivers on the promise of offering audiences a good time."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...“Judgment Day,” premiering at Chicago Shakespeare, is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud funny play with a cast that ekes comedy out of nearly every line and gesture. Jason Alexander, who played one of the world’s best-known schlimazels as George on “Seinfeld,” plays against that type as Sammy Campo, a highly effective attorney and fixer. Campo twists the law and extorts his opponents into submission."