Washington Post - Recommended
"...In the manner of such evenings, O’Hara’s playlets do not all rise to the same level of sharpness. But there’s more than enough talent on display here to please an adventurous crowd, for the assorted confections of “Booty Candy” hold onto their tart flavors mighty juicily."
DCist - Highly Recommended
"...Bootycandy is an event of very funny and transgressive works, loosely tied together by plot but bound by the common interest of making some truths of our society hard to swallow. It's a look inside a playwright's mind, and, though it gets really meta, it's affecting. The pieces are small but thoughtful, and with a cast this full of life and character, they should get you thinking, whether you want them to or not."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...The caliber of the cast is nothing short of impeccable, really. Lance Coadie Williams rounds out the ensemble in roles including a fiery preacher with quite a surprise for his conservative congregation, and – in an effective bit of gender twisting – Sutter's equally fiery grandmother."
WeLoveDC - Highly Recommended
"...So it doesn’t matter if you love her, him, or both- you will truly enjoy what O’Hara has to offer. Bootycandy marks the end of the theatre’s 31st season and they managed to do so with a huge, glittery, tumultuous bang. After reviewing about half of Woolly’s shows this past season- this has been the best one yet."
Washington City Paper - Highly Recommended
"...Performances are generally terrific, with Lance Coadie Williams cornering the flamboyance market, Sean Meehan playing the evening’s most seriously troubled souls, Jessica Frances Dukes and Laiona Michelle doing a pretty uproarious Mutt and Jeff act, and all of them circling Phillip James Brannon’s incisively playful Sutter, who seems a stand-in for the author. Perhaps understandably, the most telling sketches tend to be the least funny. I suspect I won’t be alone in replaying in my head the barroom conversations between brothers-in-law that go from comic to wrenching by delicate stages, each character desperately seeking contact, and just as desperately shrinking from touch."
Washingtonian - Recommended
"...With so many rapidly switching roles, Bootycandy’s performances often have a loose, improvisational style, but the show still allows for some meatier scenes. Phillip James Brannon plays Sutter, who is the closest O’Hara gets to an autobiographical character. Brannon is often graceful and magnetic, but also lets us into the raw pain and rejection at the root of the character’s crueler actions. Lance Coadie Williams’s melodious voice, expansive presence, and infectious smile continually grabs attention onstage, while Jessica Frances Dukes and Laiona Michelle have great comedic chemistry."
BrightestYoungThings - Highly Recommended
"...The show is tailor-made for the Woolly cast. Combined with detailed costuming and staging, the 5 players are impressive shape-shifters. All of them. The anticipation of “who are they going to be next?” provides constant entertainment. At one point, the only two actresses in the show (Jessica Frances Dukes and Laiona Michelle) become 4 different aged women having 2 phone conversations at the same time. In the second act, Dukes almost freakishly tricks you into thinking they subbed in a small 7-year-old child actor to sit at a table and play while grown-ups make a scene in McDonald’s. The illusion, along with the whole scene, is amazing."
DCTheatreScene - Recommended
In Bootycandy, Mr. O’Hara details how a euphemism shaped his sexual identity and view of the world. Hilarious, tasteless and shocking, Bootycandy does for breaking taboos what the John Waters cult movie “Pink Flamingos” did for dog poo.
