WIG OUT! Review Quotes

“‘WIG OUT!’ IS A GUTSY, PULSING NEW PLAY by the astonishing young dramatist Tarell Alvin McCraney! A thorough and original anatomy of an alternative universe. DIVINE!” -Ben Brantley, New York Times “GLORIOUS! A wellspring of feeling and empathy underpins ‘WIG OUT!’—a show that delivers warmth, titillation and laughs in equal measure.” -Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg News […]

“‘WIG OUT!’ IS A GUTSY, PULSING NEW PLAY

by the astonishing young dramatist Tarell Alvin McCraney! A thorough and original anatomy of an alternative universe. DIVINE!”

-Ben Brantley, New York Times

“GLORIOUS!

A wellspring of feeling and empathy underpins ‘WIG OUT!’—a show that delivers warmth,
titillation and laughs in equal measure.”
-Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg News

“‘WIG OUT!’ brims with attitude and extravagance! Real theatrical fireworks!”
-Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press

“ONE FABULOUS SHOW!

A striking production.”
-Michael Sommers, Newark Star-Ledger

“A VIBRANT AND INNOVATIVE NEW PLAY!

A bold production by Tina Landau. STUNNINGLY REALIZED AND COMPELLING!”
-Dan Bacalzo, Theatermania

“WHAT A GLAMFEST!

FASHION, PASSION AND EXCITEMENT!”

-David Sheward, Backstage

“EYE-POPPINGLY LIVELY!

Catches fire and earns that exclamation point in its title”
-Elyse Sommer, Curtain Up

“A BALL TO WATCH!”

-Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News

“Forget European cultural capitals: It’s Vineyard Theatre that’s currently on fire. A blaze caused by the sparks emitted from McCraney’s smart and scorching new play ‘WIG OUT!’”
-Matthew Murray, Talkin’ Broadway

“A SUREFIRE HIT! INSPIRED AND CUTTING, FUNNY AND FIERCE!”

-Winnie McCray, Edge NY

“‘WIG OUT!’ IS FABULOUS!”

-Frank Scheck, New York Post

Artists

Henry Russell Bergstein, CSA

(Casting Director) Vineyard Theatre: GOOD GRIEF, THE AMATEURS, HARRY CLARKE, THE LYONS (and Broadway), GLORIA (and Goodman), DOT, THE LANDING, CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?, KID VICTORY (and Signature DC), TOO MUCH SUN, BILLY & RAY, SOMEWHERE FUN, THE NORTH POOL, ARLINGTON, OUTSIDE PEOPLE, CHECKERS, PICKED, MIDDLETOWN, THE METAL CHILDREN, WIG OUT!. Other theater: KPOP, SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, NATASHA, PIERRE, & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812; THE WILDNESS (Ars Nova). Sundance Theatre Lab: 5 seasons. Television: US Casting for “Black Mirror,” Comedy Central’s “The Other Two” with Allison Estrin, HBO’s “Succession” and Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” with Douglas Aibel. Film: Saturday Church, It Felt Like Love, Easy Living; with Douglas Aibel – Grandma, Love After Love, How to Talk to Girls at Parties; with Allison Estrin – Spider-Man: Homecoming (NY Casting). Also: “Homecoming The Podcast” S1-2.

Daniel T. Booth

(Serena) Off-Broadway Debut. Infamous drag persona “Sweetie” since 1991. Film: To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar; StarrBooty; No Exit.

Joshua Cruz

(Venus) Off-Broadway Debut. NY workshops: Timmy the Great (John Nervous); Rubirosa (Y. Rubirosa). Regional: Altar Boyz (Juan); LOUD (Parker); A Chorus Line (Mark); Streakin’ (world premiere, Donny); Working (Emilio); Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour). Nat’l tours: West Side Story (Ensemble, U/S); Diva Diaries (Y. Damsel); Mouse Cookie (Mouse). TV: Rescue Me. BFA in Music and Theater at the Univ. of Florida and the Conservatory for Music and Theater at the Florida School of the Arts.

Glenn Davis

(Deity) Off-Broadway Debut. Regional: A Lesson Before Dying, The Bluest Eye (Steppenwolf); Polaroid Stories, Caligula, Vassa Zheleznova (Williamstown); Edward II, Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, The Tempest (Stratford Festival); Deep Azure (Congo Square). Sundance Theatre Lab; Goodman; Chicago Shakespeare; . TV: 24; The Unit; Jericho (recurring); Lie To Me (pilot); S.I.S (pilot). BFA DePaul University. Goodman School of Drama. Conservatory at the Stratford Festival.

Sean Patrick Doyle

(Loki) International: Baby John in West Side Story (dir. Joey McKneely, Asian/European Tours); Fame: The Musical (Asian Tour). Regional Theatre/Opera: Carmen Ghia in The Producers; Starkey in Peter Pan, Chantal in La Cage Aux Folles (dir. BT McNichol), Emcee in Cabaret, Mistoffelees in Cats, and numerous appearances at The John F. Kennedy Center, including A Salute to 1940s Broadway (dir. Baayork Lee), Bernstein’s Mass, and Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans. Film/Television: Kennedy Center Honors (dir. Rob Marshall); Full Grown Men; Young Lincoln; and numerous commercials. www.seanpatrickdoyle.com

McKenzie Frye

(Faith) Off-Broadway: Mama I Want to Sing (Benefit Concert); 365 Plays/365 Days; My Secret Garden; Broadway Soul;Damn Yankees (Benefit Concert); Diss Diss, Dat Dat; River Deep. Regional: Damn Yankees; Dreamgirls; Crowns; Golf: The Musical; Harriet’s Return starring Debbie Allen (The Kennedy Center). TV: Law & Order; Law & Order: CI; Law & Order: SVU. BFA in Musical Theater, Howard University.

Nathan Lee Graham

(Rey-Rey) Film: Zoolander; Sweet Home Alabama; Hitch. Television: The Comeback; Absolutely Fabulous; Scrubs. Broadway: The Wild Party (LADCC Award Best Featured Performer in a Musical). Recordings: William Bolcom’s Songs Of Innocence and of Experience (Grammy award winner classical recording 2005). First national tours: Jesus Christ Superstar; Showboat. Regional theatre and commercials. Upcoming: indie film 818; the CD Easy. BFA in musical theatre, Webster University Conservatory.

Angela Grovey

(Fate) Off-Broadway Debut. Regional: Little Shop of Horrors (Paper Mill Playhouse, “Ronette”); Buddy (Westchester Broadway Theatre, “Apollo Singer”); Spunk (Actor’s Theatre Louisville, “Blues Speak”); World Goes ‘Round (Barrington Stage, “Woman 1”); Thoroughly Modern Millie (Fulton Opera, “Muzzy”); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Maltz Jupiter, “Nell”); Crowns (Arizona Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, “Wanda”); Abyssinia (Goodspeed Opera, North Shore Music Theatre, “Mavis”); Crowns (Arena Stage, Geva Theatre, Studio Arena, “Mabel”); Showboat (Marriot,“Ethel”); Kiss Me Kate (Drury Lane, “Hattie”); Bubbly Black Girl…(Apple Tree, “Granny”). Graduate of Roosevelt University’s Theatre Conservatory in Chicago, IL.

Rebecca Naomi Jones

(Fay) Broadway: Passing Strange. Off-Broadway: Passing Strange (Public Theater); How Love is Spelt (Playwrights Horizons-SPF). Tours/Regional: Caroline, or Change (OBC Tour); Little Shop of Horrors (1st Nat’l Tour); Rent (Both US Nat’l and 10th Anniversary Tours); Funked Up Fairy Tales (Sundance); Wig Out! (Sundance); Passing Strange (Berkeley Rep). Films: Miracle at St. Anna; Passing Strange (both directed by Spike Lee). Vocalist for Deetown Entertainment. Songs in Alvin and The Chipmunks; Gossip Girl; Sydney White; Fools Gold. B.F.A. in Drama, North Carolina School of the Arts.

Erik King

(Lucian) Theatre credits include: Servy ‘N Bernice 4Ever,Streamers (dir. Terry Kinney, Steppenwolf Company); Balm In Gilead (Circle Rep); Wasted (WPA). TV: Dexter (Sgt. Doakes); Oz (Moses Dyell); The District (Travis Hayward); The Division; Malcolm in the Middle; CSI:Miami; Charmed; JAG; Law & Order. Film: National Treasure; Ice Princess; Desperate Measures; True Crime.

Clifton Oliver

(Ms. Nina) Broadway: The Lion King (Simba); Wicked (Fiyero). Off-Broadway: Miracle Brothers (Vineyard Theatre). LA/1st National Tour: Rent (Benny, Australian Tour); Grease (Teen Angel); Smokey Joe`s Café (Victor); Regional: Godspell (North Shore, “Judas”); Ragtime (MUNY); Pippin (Papermill). TV&Film: Law & Order; Making The Band Season 1; The Oprah Winfrey Show; The Tonight Show; Side Effects; Whirlwind. Upcoming recording. www.myspace.com/cliftonolivermusic.

Tarell Alvin McCraney

(Playwright) Plays include The Brothers Size (The Public Theater New York, The Abbey Theater produced with the Foundry Theater, the Young Vic Theater London); In the Red and Brown Water (Winner of the 2007 Kendeda Award Alliance Theater Atlanta, GA); and Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet. Other plays: The Breach (Southern Rep. Theater, New Orleans 2007, Seattle Rep Theater 2008); A Taurian Tale (52nd Street Project 2008). Awards: 2007 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award (Vineyard Theatre); 2007 Giles Whiting Writing Award. International Writer-in-Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company 2008-2010. Hodder Fellow, Princeton University and new member at New Dramatists in New York, NY. Graduate: New World School of the Arts High School, 1999; DePaul University, 2003; Yale School of Drama in playwriting 2007.

Peter Kaczorowski

(Lighting Designer) Broadway: Over 35 plays and musicals including Is He Dead?; Young Frankenstein; Curtains; Grey Gardens; The Pajama Game; The Producers; The Music Man; Contact; Kiss Me Kate. Numerous productions for Lincoln Center,Roundabout, MTC, NYSF, Playwrights Horizons, Encores. Regional:Guthrie, Goodman, CTG, La Jolla, Seattle Rep, Hartford, Long Wharf. Opera: The Met, NYCO, San Francisco Opera, LAMCO, Santa Fe, Seattle, St. Louis. Abroad: Royal Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera/North, Bonn State Opera, Maggio Festival Florence, L’Arena di Verona, La Fenice, Cagliari and Lisbon. He is the recipient of Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Hewes design awards.

Tina Landau

(Director) Tina Landau is a writer/director whose original pieces include Theatrical Essays (Steppenwolf), Beauty (La Jolla Playhouse), Space (NYSF/Public, Taper, Steppenwolf), Floyd Collins (Playwrights Horizons, Goodman, Old Globe, AMTF), Dream True (Vineyard Theatre), States of Independence (AMTF), Stonewall (En Garde Arts) and 1969 (Humana Festival).  Other productions include Midsummer Night’s Dream (McCarter/Papermill), Miracle Brothers (Vineyard), Bells are Ringing (B’way), Saturn Returns (Public), Orestes and Trojan Women (En Garde), as well as Cherry Orchard, Time of Your Life, and many other productions at Steppenwolf theater in Chicago where she is an ensemble member.  Tina has written, with Anne Bogart, The Viewpoints Book.

Toni-Leslie James

(Costume Designer) Broadway: Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; One Mo’ Time; King Hedley II; The Wild Party (Fany Award); Marie Christine; Footloose; The Tempest (Drama Desk Nomination); Twilight: Los Angeles 1992; Angels in America; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Jelly’s Last Jam (Tony & Drama Desk nominations, Hewes Design Award & LA Drama-League Award). Off-Broadway: Bernarda Alba (Hewes Design Award nomination); Dessa Rose; Elegies; A New Brain; God’s Heart; Hello Again; Macbeth; Henry VIII; Dancing On Her Knees; Insurrection; Measure for Measure; East Texas Hot Links; Dog Opera; The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Drama Desk & Hewes Design Award Nominations); Spunk. Television: Three specials for WNET/13 Great Performances series; As The World Turns; Whoopi (NBC). Film: The Huey P. Newton Story; A Tale of Two Pizzas & Tightrope. Recipient of Connecticut Critics Circle Award and Irene Sharaff Young Masters Award for Costume Excellence.

Wendy Parson

(Hair, Wig, & Makeup Designer) Smoke and Mirrors Productions. Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors; Play What I Wrote; Long Day’s Journey Into Night; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Our Town; Hollywood Arms; The Elephant Man; Glengarry Glen Ross. Off-Broadway: The Bluest Eye; The Clean House; Bernard Alba; Dessa Rose; Valhalla; Little Fish; Night Heron; A Second Hand Memory; City Center Encores!. Music Video: Beyonce’s Goldmember.

Barbara Reo

(Production Stage Manager) Broadway: Our Country’s Good. Off-Broadway: Kicking A Dead Horse; The Brothers Size; Emergence-SEE! (The Public Theater). Regional: Trinity Repertory Company; Paper Mill Playhouse; Hartford Stage; Alliance Theatre; Huntington Theatre Company; Perishable Theater. Other: Brown University/Trinity Repertory Consortium; Production Coordinator, Brown University New Plays Festival; Producer/Production Coordinator. Proud Member of Actors’ Equity Association.