Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...Sherman’s intent was, I think, to create a kind of dark farce that’s emblematic of the indignities (financial and otherwise) that often await great international artists in their waning days, and to poke some fun at the timeless necessity for artists to humble themselves in the hope of snagging some crumbs from the rich and the uncouth. He always wanted to hone in on one of the great paradoxes facing a dancer who hopes to make history. When she dies, her art dies with her. Because her body is her art."
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Chicago Sun Times - Recommended

"...Sherman's tragicomedy of artistic manners is an engaging look at human communication and all its attendant malfunctions. And on this level, TimeLine Theatre's ambitious revival of the 1985 play -- under the spirited direction of Nick Bowling (the 2009 Jeff Award winner for his staging of "The History Boys") -- is especially delicious."
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Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...That incommunicable aspect of art is presumably at the heart of Sherman’s extensive language games; at least six languages are spoken by the visitors to Duncan’s Paris home. Her volatile, much younger husband (a mesmerizing Mulvey) speaks only Russian; a Greek piano prodigy translates for the Italian. Bowling’s cast handles this business with admirable technical proficiency. Brooks provides the audience surrogate, a Russian translator and longtime devotee of Duncan’s, with humor and a heartbreaking humility, while Engstrom is magnetic as ever as the mercurial artist. But TimeLine’s competent revival doesn’t answer the question of why Sherman chose this unlikely moment in Duncan’s life to tell her story."
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Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...In its attempt to capture the emotional highs and lows of Duncan's eccentric lifestyle, When She Danced sometimes comes off as a variation on Auntie Mame, with Duncan, Alexandros, and Belzer substituting for the flamboyant Mame, her adoring nephew Patrick, and her straitlaced but worshipful secretary, Agnes Gooch. It's entertaining, but it only rarely comes close to conveying Duncan's greatness. This is in part because of the very problem Sherman is exploring: without seeing Duncan dance, we can't really appreciate why she's such a significant figure. Though she's regarded by many as the mother of modern dance, her real power wasn't in her technique or innovative choreography—it was in her charismatic expressiveness, her deeply personal connection to the music she was physicalizing."
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NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...We see affecting memory of Duncan in her prime. Duncan’s translator, Miss Belzer (the reliably poignant Janet Ulrich Brooks) and accompanist Alexandros Eliopolos (a fresh and funny Alejandro Cordoba) detail Duncan’s (Jennifer Engstrom) artistic victories, but the rest is dramatized excess. Director Nick Bowling does what he can with a script that doesn’t give us all we need."
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Copley News Service - Recommended

"...Nick Bowling directs with a sureness of touch that can’t entirely energize the slow first act, but his production does accelerate in the more animated second act. Bowling’s deft handling of the assembled eccentrics at the dinner party suggests he should be an ideal director for a revival of 'You Can’t Take It With You.' "

Centerstage - Highly Recommended

"...Isadora Duncan's name conjures up images of flowing scarves, free love and the larger-than-life mother of modern dance. In TimeLine Theatre's elegant production, two days are recreated from the bohemian lifestyle of this American-born, internationally famous artistic trailblazer. The result is a surprisingly funny adult drama that provides a brief glimpse into the artist's passion."
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Chicago Theater Blog - Somewhat Recommended

"...In all, Bowling has crafted a superb production from a flawed script. It helps that When She Danced looks wonderful, thanks to Keith Pitts at once elegant, impoverished and richly beautiful Parisian flat. Seth E. Reinick’s evocative lighting beautifully emphasizes monologues by Brooks and Cordoba that come almost as close to portraying Duncan’s brilliance as any actual dancing might. Almost."
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ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended

"...When She Danced is part drawing room comedy, part character profile with glimpses into the nature of creating art and a look at how art, and Duncan in particular, deeply touched so many lives. Engstrom plays Duncan with her extreme mood swings, her lust and her craving for individuality expressed through movement nicely. Janet Ulrich Brooks is terrific as the shy Russian interpreter while Patrick Mulvey aptly captures the self-destructiveness of the poet Esenin."

Steadstyle Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...For many theater companies, having two consecutive hit shows in a season would be a wonderful experience. After having successful runs with 'History Boys' and 'All My Sons,' TimeLine Theatre Company has not stopped yet. Their current production, "When She Danced," Martin Sherman's portrait of Isadora Duncan is a true masterpiece of art in theater. Every little detail of this production is sparkling. From the moment you walk into this intimate theater and see the set designed by Keith Pitts, you know you are in for something special. It is 1923, Paris, the home of Isadora Duncan, known to most as 'The mother of modern dance'. "
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