Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...I still found the piece admirable (those theatrical moments are that skilled and sweet). The big issue here, given the richness of the material, strikes me as eminently fixable. By the time you go - and this company deserves support in its comeback - perhaps fixed it will have been. The lodestar is perfectly reachable."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...But where Cervantes' work is smart, suspenseful, playful and pointed, "Lookingglass Quixote" is over-the-top, sophomoric and largely incoherent. Under Catlin's direction, the ensemble doesn't act so much as it makes faces throughout. The plot doesn't progress so much as it sputters. Don Quixote's epic adventures - vast, intricate metaphors for fighting the powers of oppression - are reduced to pratfalls, spit-takes and grating nonsense."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...The truly unique theatre space in Chicago’s historic Water Tower has reopened after a yearlong regrouping and renovation with what I predict will be an instant classic: a rendering of of Cervantes’ Don Quixote of LaMancha that takes the signature tools of Lookingglass (deep dive into history and story– often literature, gorgeous visual theatricality and performers that excel at both acting and physicality) and makes something beautiful and enduring."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...After nearly a two-year hiatus, Lookingglass Theatre has triumphantly returned, revitalized by a $2 million grant that funded a new performance space inside the Water Tower Pumping Station. The company’s freshly designed lobby and entrance, along with the newly named Joan and Paul Rubschlager Mainstage, mark a new chapter for this innovative theatre. And what better way to celebrate than by returning to their roots—melding circus artistry with classic storytelling?"
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...Don Quixote is one of the most familiar, popular and iconic characters from world literature. Indeed, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes' two-part 17th century story is considered to be the very first modern novel. Kerry and David Catlin's co-adaptation and direction of this jaw-dropping production is such a powerful production that also marks the welcome reopening of Chicago's magnificent Lookingglass Theatre. It's also a must-see play that everyone's bound to be talking about for years to come. Like LOOKINGGLASS ALICE and THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER, CIRCUS QUIXOTE will likely join the roster of the company's most popular works that will be revived every year or two. With its combination of fine acting, incredible Circus skills and stupendous technical support, theatergoers should not miss the opportunity for tilting at windmills with that romantic idealist, Don Quixote de La Mancha."
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...Unlike Broadway's 1965 musical "Man of La Mancha," this version incorporates acrobatics, courtesy Evanton's Actors Gymnasium-circus and movement choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi- along with stunning puppetry (remarkable creatures large and small design by Grace Neediman) and dashes of slapstick. The show includes sword fights aloft on ropes, members of the troup "jousting" with windmills by climbing the blades in arial feats, and riding Don Quixote's famed Rocinante, an engineered baroque steam punk rocking chair which at one point holds seven of the troupe in motion."
The Fourth Walsh
- Highly Recommended
"...Lookingglass Theatre is back to theatre business after a couple years. CIRCUS QUIXOTE is the perfect premiere return. It reminds us what we've been missing! We need Lookingglass providing uplifting escapes to inspire wonder and resilience especially when the journey is long and dark."
Third Coast Review
- Highly Recommended
"...After much too long a pause, Lookingglass is back. And with style. Circus Quixote, Lookingglass Theatre's adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel, Don Quijote of La Mancha, is a perfect example of what the theater company does best: combining heart with whimsy, magic with humor. The tale about a kind dreamer who may be touched by madness and who goes on an impossible quest to make the world a better place couldn’t come at a more opportune time."
PicksInSix
- Recommended
"...The Lookingglass Theatre Company has returned to production after an extended hiatus with the world premiere of "Circus Quixote," an artfully produced work written and directed by Kerry and David Catlin. The show-based on Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote of La Mancha featuring circus by Sylvia Hernandez-Distani and presented in collaboration with Actors Gymnasium-follows in a long and varied path of organically developed theater work that has defined the reputation of the regional Tony Award-winning theater whose home is at the heart of Chicago's Water Tower Water Works, sparkling and renewed after a major interior renovation to the public spaces in recent months."
Chicago Culture Authority
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Look, it's a fun, fairly faithful retelling of the major stories in the novel on a clever set that employs a wall made of books to depict castles, caves and all manner of other locations. Including, of course, windmills. The circus portion of the proceedings includes an actor taking a few spins around the metal frame of a windmill. It's worth a chuckle. But if you're going to call something a circus, you'll typically want to present more accomplished circus-type performances, especially with Teatro ZinZanni showing how it's done about 10 blocks to the southwest."
Splash Magazine
- Recommended
"...Lookingglass’ adaptation was created in association with Actors Gymnasium, an acclaimed circus arts school and theatre company based in Evanston. Actors Gym artistic director and former circus acrobat Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi choreographed the circus parts of this beautiful-designed and imaginatively presented show. Her circus is filled with stunning aerial acts and gymnastic feats intended to push the limits of physical, emotional and creative expression."
Allie and the After Party
- Highly Recommended
"...Lookingglass Theatre puts together their adaptation of Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote with their newest show, Circus Quixote, that incorporates their signature circus tricks, aerial arts, and acrobatics. The props and set design capture this whimsical and larger than life feeling and the cast brings it all together with humor and style."
BroadwayWorld
- Highly Recommended
"...Under the direction of Kerry and David Catlin (who also adapted the play from the original novel), CIRCUS QUIXOTE maintains the original's structure while using circus arts such as acrobatics, clowning, and aerial silks to capture the magic and whimsy of Don Quixote's imagined world."
