Chez Joey Reviews

MetroWeekly- Highly Recommended

"...Anticipating that this show’s hep sound might seem too adventurous for some, Chez Joey supplies a balance of free-wheeling jazz and lush, old-school standards. If you want “My Funny Valentine” served straight-up, they’ve got you. If you’d like “My Heart Stood Still” with a twist, they’ve got you, too. Secka’s Linda English can, of course, sing it all, and does ??splendidly, and even throws in a delightfully bubble-voiced radio jingle for good measure."

Talkin Broadway- Highly Recommended

"...In 1940, composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart wrote a musical called Pal Joey, with a book by John O'Hara based on a series of stories he had written about a showbiz wannabe named Joey Evans. Co-directors Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover-the latter also credited as choreographer and "orchestrologist"-have reimagined that musical and given it a high gloss as Chez Joey in the Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage in Washington, featuring a sharp new book by Richard LaGravenese and a top-level cast."

Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended

"...At Arena Stage, Chez Joey is less a revival of Pal Joey than a sleek, rhythm-driven reinvention that returns the material to the cultural currents that shaped it. Drawing on John O’Hara’s original stories—first published in The New Yorker—this version sharpens the narrative’s edges and refracts them through jazz, tap, and the lineage of Black performance. The result is immediate, propulsive, and vividly alive."

MD Theatre Guide- Highly Recommended

"...Legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong once said, “What we play is life.” Music is emblematic of the existence we lead and that which surrounds us. Jazz music even more so. “Chez Joey” at Arena Stage displays a deep understanding and use of this concept in their jazz-centered adaptation unlike anything you’ve seen on stage. In “Chez Joey’s” transporting world premiere at Arena Stage, Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey” finally bewitches, bothers, and bewilders."

Morris Theatre DC- Recommended

"...Glover in his infinite eccentricity is also what he calls an "orchestrologist". I can get behind this term: the housy arrangements of the band are a spiritual character in itself , and are something he and Goldwyn utilize cleverly. It's almost every scene that something is making a noise, an undercurrent of rhythm that controls the action."

BroadwayWorld- Highly Recommended

"...An embarrassment of theatrical riches, bordering on sensory, stimulating overload, is on display in an exceptionally bold and satisfying reimagining of the very influential musical Pal Joey—now reconceived as Chez Joey. The show still takes place in the 1940’s Chicago music/nightclub scene, but it has been opened up to explore potent possibilities that are realized in this production."

A Theatre-Goer's Thoughts- Highly Recommended

"...Central to the success of this production is what would be a star-making performance by Myles Frost as the amoral Joey – if the Tony-winner (as Michael Jackson in the biographical musical MJ) had not already given that star-making performance. Frost is equally adept in all aspects as a triple-threat: acting, singing, and dancing. Because of Frost’s inherent charisma, Joey becomes a much more sympathetic character than written."

DC Theater Arts- Highly Recommended

"...The production takes a 1940s moment and re-frames it for our contemporary moment by shining light on stories told through sound and movement that reflect American society’s cultural divides while honoring Black excellence that made the 20th century the American century."