"An accidental and indispensable elegy...The setting is minimal, the costumes pleasantly generic, Karla Puno Garcia’s choreography decidedly low profile and Mr. Schmoll’s direction affectionate and barely there...I felt a happy-sad nostalgia, not only for the composer himself but also for the theater scene that birthed him...'Gone Missing,' though delightful, is a little thin...So it’s Friedman’s too-short life that fleshes out 'Gone Missing,' deepens it and gives it context."
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"An oddball 2001 revue laced with observational humor, peppy energy and shades of sadness...The Off-Center production of 'Gone Missing' serves as an opportunity to reflect upon Friedman’s passing. The meditative final song, 'Stars,' contains the line 'So when I leave you, you’ll know, I’m just a shadow, an echo. You never possessed me. Never possessed me.' When the song was performed at Wednesday night’s performance, one could hear a few audience members weeping."
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"Schmoll's production, staged mostly in front of music stands like the Encores! of yore, doesn't find the thread to make it a cohesive evening. But then, the piece is so specific to the style of the Civilians that an outsider to the company with limited rehearsal is at a disadvantage to begin with. As a result, only one of the six actors really manages to find specificity in all of her work."
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"It was a treat to revisit 'Gone Missing'...The wacky stories are amusing, but the ones that are the most affecting are also the simplest...The songs are brief—oh, too brief!—but charming and catchy as heck, and surprisingly deep."
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"A quirky, mostly droll, occasionally touching, 75-minute docu-musical...Back then, I characterized the show as an 'enjoyable collage' and 'thoughtful entertainment.' So it remains today in the fleet concert staging by Ken Rus Schmoll that also features witty synchronized moves in Karla Puno Garcia’s choreography...Expertly backed by a small onstage band under Fenwick’s direction...these top-notch actors manage to conjure up a sense of intimacy within City Center’s cavernous auditorium."
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“A perfect choice for the Encores! There’s no plot, it’s a series of admissions, told directly to the audience with no attempt to be anywhere specific...Schmoll did an excellent job of moving the performers around the stage...Garcia’s choreography was terrific – clever and engaging...Pitch perfect and really enhanced the songs. At several points the choreography got laughs of its own...Cast did a wonderful job of creating diverse, specific characters with no more than their voices and bodies.”
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"The cast, comprised of such top theater talent as Taylor Mac and Susan Blackwell, make the most of Friedman’s eclectic tunes and witty lyrics...It’s meant to feel informal and fun, and mostly manages to achieve this in the 2,000+ seat City Center, as it did more easily in the 199-seat Barrow Street Theater...Sometimes the show itself loses its way. It’s hard to see the relevance to the topic of a pet psychic recalling conversations with an old horse and a dog, although the stories are amusing."
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“Friedman’s songs for ‘Gone Missing’ are charming in the extreme, tuneful and buoyant, from the jaunty opening and title number to a sprightly Burt Bacharach pastiche...At times howlingly funny...Part of what made Gone Missing such a delight was its versatile cast of six...Only minor disappointment in the cast was Taylor Mac, who seemed to be in a totally different world.”
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