Washington Post - Somewhat Recommended
"... In Constellation Theatre Company’s production of “Metamorphoses,” the weakness on view is mugging. Director Allison Arkell Stockman and her team succeed in coaxing some handsome images from Mary Zimmerman’s script, an adaptation of Ovid. But the tendency of several performers to overact —and in particular, to milk situations for goofy comedy —undermines the show’s potentially haunting poetry."
DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"... There are too many fabulous and outstanding performances and scenes to mention or I’d give the entire show away. You must see it for yourself and if you see no other show in DC this month, this is the one. Metamorphoses will soon fade away just like the myths of yore – and you will forever roll your stone uphill if you miss the Constellation Theatre Company’s sensational production."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...Still, you will wish for more entertainment along the lines of the story of a famished Erysichthon. Here, Hunger, giddily played by Lisa Lias, takes a rodent-like form and attaches itself to the back of Erysichthon, played by the bearish Matthew Pauli, until he grows so weak and hungry he cuts off his own foot. Or really, the show would get a boost from more stories featuring the great Misty Demory, who steals every scene she's in, whether as the academic-minded therapist who hilariously mocks the gripes of Farber's petulant Phaeton, or as the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite."
Washington City Paper - Somewhat Recommended
"... But to my taste, the Constellation production doesn’t commit fully enough to the elemental power of these tales. It turns more often than it might to the mug, the wink, the easy laugh. (The trouble begins with the tragedy of Midas and his daughter, which frames the evening and is played for loud, coarse humor by Keith Irby.) And the unmistakably talented percussionist Tom Teasley, who supplies a moody live score for the proceedings, is positioned upstage and in an elevated booth—an arrangement that often pulls focus from the gods and mortals whose adventures he’s accompanying. Together, those infelicities break the cumulative spell of stories that can, well-told, wash over an audience like a flood tide; it’s an evening of small pleasures, but not the transporting, transformational experience it might have been."
Washington Times - Recommended
"... In structure, Ms. Zimmerman’s play strongly resembles the “picaresque tale” originating in the world of prose fiction. It’s a slice of mythological life mostly devoid of a linear plot. It’s driven instead by a recurring central theme: the intensely transformative power of love and relationships. United with this theme is a secondary but still important caution: get too full of yourself and you’re looking for a fall."
Washingtonian - Highly Recommended
"... Actors rise up from unseen underwater wings. Wine-drunk gods bellyflop across the surface. Godesses are reborn. The fact that water is a nifty little symbol for everything from creation to the washing away of sins makes its prominence especially poignant. The combination of enduring stories with universal themes with such riveting production choices hits nearly all the right notes. A few of the myths are harder to follow. But all in all, Stockman and her talented team have crafted a production worthy of its lofty source material--a memorable work well worth diving into."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
A.J. Guban’s set immediately transports you out of time and into a classical dream world. Surrounded by blue wave-rippled walls, a trapezoid-shaped pool serves as the roiling sea, the river Styx, a taboo bedchamber, a rich man’s expensive plaything, and a puddle of tears.
