Washington Post - Highly Recommended
"...That messier sense of progression becomes, refreshingly, the guiding style of "Sycamore Trees," Ricky Ian Gordon's deeply personal, strikingly impressionistic new musical, receiving its world premiere at Signature Theatre. Aided by some inventive detailing by the composer's longtime collaborator, director Tina Landau, "Sycamore Trees" is the kaleidoscopic memoir of one American family and the bittersweet flavors that suffuse their clashes and calamities, large and small."
Washington Examiner - Recommended
"...If "Sycamore Trees" were simply an autobiographical tribute to Gordon's past, it would have limited force, but it's aimed at the American dream itself, which gives it broader emotional resonance. With his ability to put old ideas about love, unity and community into new post-modern musical settings, full of unconventional tunes and harmonies, Gordon ultimately achieves in "Sycamore Trees" a fresh and stimulating tribute to the thing he seems to cherish most: family -- his, yours, everyone's."
Variety - Somewhat Recommended
"...Sycamore Trees, a memory musical by composer Ricky Ian Gordon, makes its debut as the second of three tuners commissioned by Arlington, Va.'s Signature Theater under its American Musical Voices Project. The production features yeoman performances from a cast of Broadway regulars that includes Marc Kudisch, but is undermined by a predictable book about growing up in a combustible Jewish household and an assortment of generally undistinguished melodies."
MetroWeekly - Somewhat Recommended
"...even at its brightest, Sycamore Trees is still weighted down with too many competing narratives, too many directions we're asked to travel. What Gordon (and Nina Mankin, his co-writer for the book) attempt to tell in the boundaries of a single musical instead begs to be many shows, each given their own time and attention and space to grow and develop."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...The material is engaging and the cast is sharply observant, working to keep their characterizations from becoming simply caricatures (the bourgeois radical, the pious hippie, the saintly lover). Kudisch is utterly convincing as a man whose world is slipping from his control, and Sutherland actually seems to contract and expand along with her character's personality. Yazbeck gives a winning performance as the young man whose survival comes from telling his family story."
Washington City Paper - Recommended
"...The Signature production is Sycamore Trees’ world premiere, and it still feels like a work in progress—that soft start needs firming up; Act 2 needs tightening; balancing the three daughters takes too much time—but all of that’s fixable. The show’s heart, this family of misfits so worth worrying about, is already fully present. And Gordon’s unblinking embrace of their flaws, missteps, and insecurities is bracing in an age when musicals rarely take the real world seriously. It’s been a while since I’ve been so sad to hear a finale coming, knowing that a show was about to end."
Arlington Connection - Somewhat Recommended
"...In "Sycamore Trees" Gordon exhibits his talent at both story telling and song writing. However, he has chosen to tell a story that is crowded with clichés and focuses on all the negative aspects of American life over the second half of the 20th century without so much of a mention of any of the positives. That, of course, is the privilege of a playwright, but it makes for an evening that becomes a droning dirge of criticism that the strength of the music and the energy of the cast can’t quite overcome. "
Washingtonian - Recommended
"...With such compelling, realistic characters and a fleet of Broadway regulars to portray them, Gordon has an easier ride than most. But Sycamore Trees still feels more like a work in progress than a polished final product. Musical numbers are too long and occasionally mawkish—for example, a second-half solo by Ginnie detailing how she overcame her insecurities by learning to paint watercolors is syrupy in the extreme. The comic elements of the family are brilliant, but they’re cloying set against the over-arching sense of tragedy. It’s as if Gordon can’t decide whether his inspiration is Anton Chekhov or David Sedaris."
Fairfax Times - Highly Recommended
"...Among the standouts are Tony Yazbeck as Andrew, Diane Sutherland as his mother, Edie, and Marc Kudisch as his father, Sydney. The other cast members -- Jessica Molaskey (Myrna), Judie Kuhn (Theresa), Farah Alvin (Ginnie) playing his sisters, and Matthew Risch as his lover, David -- are also superb."
Express Night Out - Recommended
"...Their various traumas are communicated through Gordon's songs, at which the tremendously talented and professional cast excels. In particular, the second act's "Father's Song" and "Self-Help" resonate; the former explores Sydney's disappointment in himself for failing his children; the latter cleverly tweaks our obsession with navel-gazing."
Washington Jewish Week - Somewhat Recommended
"...This dearth of complete character development becomes a problem throughout the nearly two-hour show. In the first act, playwright Gordon attempts to document aspects of each of three sisters' stories, as the fast-growing family moves from the Bronx to a newly minted suburb on Long Island. The sisters, Myrna, the oldest, smartest -- Vassar and Yale -- and most damaged; Theresa, the middle one, a militant activist; and Ginnie, the youngest and quietest, are painted in broad strokes that become cliches: the spurned lover who moves west to open a coffee shop, the overachiever who becomes drug addicted, the outspoken protester who takes up yoga."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
Ricky Ian Gordon’s new musical Sycamore Trees is funny, sad, ephemeral, serious, witty, and pensive. It’s the composer’s poetic and moving take on his own boisterous family saga. And happily, it’s flawlessly executed by a first-rate, veteran cast and a top-notch stage band.
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...A brilliant ensemble of Broadway veterans has been assembled for this short run. Each of the seven actors has experience on Broadway."