See it if you are fascinated with the writer’s journey, T. Williams, W. Inge, and their relationship; no one gets woman’s pathos like gay men.
Don't see it if you don’t like the plays of Williams or Inge, avoid exhibited gay sexuality, prefer large cast musicals/plays requiring no thought, or short
See it if you are obsessed with Tennessee Wms...it's FABulous. Funny, reverent, outstanding performance by Juan Francisco Villa as TW.
Don't see it if you don't already love Glass Menagerie, Streetcar, Cat...lots of TW character & play refs & "Easter Eggs" + gay themes & seduction. Read more
See it if you enjoy shows that play and embellish known historical figures with intelligence and insight.
Don't see it if you have younger audience members with you. It doesn't get too graphic, but may not be appropriate for all.
See it if You would enjoy a fictionalized account of a meeting between Williams and Inge that is smartly written and brilliantly acted.
Don't see it if You don't like plays with gay themes or not interested in these two playwrights Read more
See it if you like portrayals of literary geniuses, spouting clever and thought-provoking lines, performed by gifted actors. Also, really nice set
Don't see it if you had a distaste for homosexual themes, "artistic license" taken with historical characters or the occasional vulgarity.
See it if Are interested in an imagined relationship between Inge & Williams before they were famous. Well acted and engrossing.
Don't see it if Are uncomfortable with adult themes.
See it if you are curious about the complex Tennessee Williams- William Inge relationship
Don't see it if you are uncomfortable with homosexuality and foul language . Read more
See it if You like Tennessee Williams and want to see one of the best acting performances of the year in Juan Francisco Villa's take on Tennessee
Don't see it if You dislike gay themes or have an aversion to two character plays.
"Dawkins lets a surfeit of biographical information overwhelm his play...Slipping in and out of realism, blending biography with melodrama and camp, Mr. Dawkins’s play is mostly a lot of talk...This is the dialogue of characters obliged to fill in not only the details of their lives, but also the themes, along with unsubtle allusions to their plays...Tony Speciale’s bumpy production feels like it needed more time to find its groove, and for the actors to hone their performances."
Read more
“The absence of sexual chemistry between our two protagonists feels like a lost opportunity to explore how gay relationships often defy easy categorization...Speciale delivers an admirably physical staging of this talky play, but the tone occasionally slips into farce...It's amusing to watch, but detracts from what the characters are actually...Dawkins gives us some of that in an epilogue that is unsatisfying as an ending, but also the best writing in the play.”
Read more
"Entirely frivolous and free of insight...Substitutes sitcom boisterousness for anything like real feeling...A head-scratcher...The main trouble...aside from the fact that it dawdles badly, indulging itself with too many coarse jokes, is that neither Dawkins nor Speciale have much feeling for the characters...When given a halfway decent line, Villa gives it some zing...But the performance is pitched too high, noisily pushing for laughs, so we get almost no sense of the conflicts.”
Read more
“A ludicrously presumptuous two-act play...All the unlikely cat-and-mouse behavior—Williams the cat, Inge the mouse—is additionally undercut by the odd casting. Villa does bear a strong resemblance to Williams, although he portrays the playwright as unusually confident and without the slightly distrait air the playwright so often exhibited.”
Read more
"Philip Dawkins' humorous and poignant 'The Gentleman Caller,' which is still running in Chicago in its world premiere production, is a fascinating and intimate view of two very famous American playwrights whose private lives may not be so well known to the public. While the depiction of William Inge leaves much to be desired, Juan Francisco Villa's exceptional portrayal of the young Tennessee Williams is one you will not soon forget."
Read more
"Williams' narration comes at us at a furious clip and with a dazzling ferocity that could easily make the unprepared a bit dizzy even as it delights the rest of us...The play is at its best in the first half when it celebrates the unlikely attraction of two gifted gay bachelors who couldn't be more different...Whatever the dramatic liberties taken by the playwright, they don't seem so farfetched but are credible and cleverly integrated."
Read more
"The contrast between Villa, overacting his mustachioed, annoyingly pompous character, and Isaac's repressed, prissy Inge…suggests a literary version of 'The Odd Couple'…Bitchiness…is pervasive in 'The Gentleman Caller,' which revels in the men's attraction for one another…and the cattiness of their sniping...The play is also unconvincingly preoccupied with imagining…Williams and…Inge engaging in lots of sexual or romantic hanky-panky, including an outlandish bit of voyeurism."
Read more
“Dawkins’s raucous comedy...Or, looked at another way...fact-based drama...This production tries to have it both ways and, for the most part, it succeeds...Villa sometimes looks and sounds like a young Orson Welles...Villa’s grandiosity is in keeping with the playwright’s larger than life reputation...Isaac has more room to mold the lesser known Inge and manages a fine balance between comic and suicidal desperation...Speciale knows how to build laughs while drawing out tension.”
Read more