Press Quotes

A CHRISTMAS TWIST

“TWIST blends two works by its victim author; grafted onto the familiar parable of Ebenezer and his spirits are guest villains Fagin and Mr Bumble from ‘Oliver Twist.’ The title character is twentysomething Tiny Twist, a gangly orphan waif who hates gruel (the Cratchits’ favorite dish) and whose crutch keeps getting stuck in cracks. Bumble and Fagin mercilessly exploit Twist (despite the lad’s klutziness as a pickpocket) until Bob Cratchit impulsively adopts the tall tot. The villains scheme to get Twist back, but in the mock-violent conclusion a redeemed Scrooge exposes their foul plot … abounds with Illegitimate irreverence, like a Ghost of Christmas Past who grouses about always having to fly from one stranger’s dreary memory to the next. Along with the regulation chains worn by Marley’s ghost are some keepsake accessories he added for texture. The Cratchits’ idea of forced merriment is to play ‘blind man’s bluff’ with a real blind girl and to share ghoulish holiday wishes. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come uses a step stool to tower over Scrooge and communicates entirely through charades … [a] good night of wicked travesty … inspired humbug.” —Lawrence Bommer, The Chicago Tribune

THE GLASS MENDACITY

“By combining Williams’s three most celebrated dramas, the authors have come up with plenty of powerhouse material for their irreverent magnolia operetta.” —Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune

“In the twisted world of THE GLASS MENDACITY, the ensemble’s inspired send-up of the characters and crises of Tennessee Williams, the Players deconstruct a funhouse pantheon that riotously hurls together the author’s most outrageous oddballs. Loads and loads of laughs result.” —Lawrence Bommer, Windy City Times

“… the Illegitimate’s GLASS MENDACITY will delight any Williams buff with its nonstop barrage of informed in-jokes.” —Albert Williams, Reader

OF GRAPES AND NUTS

“‘It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.’ That opening line strangely summarizes the heartbreak of GRAPES OF WRATH and sets the tone for this clever show. Irreverent on its surface, hilariously accurate in its mimicry, OF GRAPES AND NUTS is a tribute par excellence to Steinbeck …” —Susan Pellowe, Plays International

“The Players have scaled comic heights before. Their GLASS MENDACITY was the most devastating send-up of Tennessee Williams since his last four plays, and ALL MY SPITE reduced Arthur Miller to an hour-long gut buster. But with OF GRAPES AND NUTS, a surefire satire on Steinbeck, they’ve struck the mother lode of comedy.” —Lawrence Bommer, Reader

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