Washington Post - Highly Recommended
"... That Nero takes absolutely the wrong lesson from the viewing is one of the comic high points of the play; that it works so well is a testament to the fine line Scheie keeps to. His Nero is so giddily unleashed that you can’t look away, even when he makes a present to his newest infatuation (the superior Kasey Mahaffy) of, gulp, pieces of his own anatomy."
Washington Examiner - Recommended
"... Many of us may think we know Nero, the Roman emperor who may or may not have fiddled while Rome burned, who definitely had relatives and a wife or two killed, the barbarous, extravagant man who waged war and negotiated peace, burned Christians in order to provide light yet built theaters to provide entertainment. Amy Freed captures all of that weird excess and contradiction in her comedy "You, Nero" at Arena Stage."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...The dialogue is consistently crisp and quippy, and the characters are drawn quite broadly in director Nicholas Martin's staging -- right down to a fun visual style (including costumes by Gabriel Berry and wigs by Cookie Jordan) that evokes flourishes of mid-20th-century animation and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum-style Broadway showmanship."
WeLoveDC - Recommended
"...Despite a fantastic job by Jeff McCarthy in the role of Scribonius, a role McCarthy took on only days before the opening, he is simply a guide through this hilarious send-up of ancient Rome. The real star is Nero and Scheie reprises the role he first performed in early West Coast productions with panache, pizzazz, and flamboyance."
Washington City Paper - Recommended
"...Freed, the playwright who gave us The Beard of Avon—an investigation into the provenance of Shakespeare’s plays much funnier than the recent Roland Emmerich film Anonymous—has found in this dark hour of Roman history fertile ground to consider the limitations of art as a civilizing influence. She’s invented a playwright, Scribonius, who serves as a kind of Aaron Sorkin to Nero’s Simon Cowell—a man suffering no dearth of self-importance who nevertheless possesses a genuine gift for the kind of edu-medicinal storytelling that that earlier great civilization, the Greeks, invented and lived by."
Washingtonian - Somewhat Recommended
"...Freed is right to worry about the state of contemporary culture, and the prism of ancient Rome is a brilliant way through which to examine the problem. But by contrasting so many lowbrow, silly gags with a deeply thoughtful subject, it’s hard to see what she’s doing to change the situation. By incorporating a serious issue into a farce, Freed is acknowledging that our tastes are pretty base, but illuminating that fact without offering solutions gives us nothing to work with. Reality TV and our “me, me, me” culture may be taking us to hell in a handcart, but pointing out the ugly views on the way isn’t enough to put on the brakes."
BrightestYoungThings - Recommended
"...This could be the right place to take the parents for a ridiculous evening of effortless laughter. I definitely want to come back for the space; I’d like to see something slightly less…slight."
TheaterMania - Somewhat Recommended
"...Amy Freed's campy romp You, Nero, now at Arena Stage's Fichandler Theatre, is a polished, colorful, and often-funny look at ancient Rome leading up to the fabled night of fire and fiddling. But the laughs come from one-dimensional shtick. Freed's stated attempt to explore the effect politics and art have on each other never really penetrates below the surface of mugging, pop-culture shout-outs, and one-liners."
MD Theatre Guide - Recommended
"...The production values are also very strong. James Noone’s set transports the audience to ancient Rome. A clever use of the space (particularly in the center of the “in the round” stage) allows the action to move from a coliseum to Nero’s palace, to the streets of Rome in the blink of an eye. The red and yellow hues used in the set design are extremely appropriate and eye-appealing. Gabriel Berry’s costumes are also a feast for the eyes. Making use of some of the same colors as in the set, his decidedly period costumes (with gladiator sandals to boot) are character-specific and give the audience insight on the players on stage- both their station in life and their values. Nero and Poppaea’s purple and red costumes remind the audience of their need for power while Sanctimonius’ green one is much more subdued and average. Matthew Richards’ and Drew Levy’s lighting and sound design complement the sets and the costumes well and provide suitable ambience to transport the audience to ancient Rome."
DCTheatreScene - Somewhat Recommended
Freed’s play has several winning moments, and a number of talented veteran comic actors. Unfortunately, they’re half-baked into a two-act fruitcake of canned one-liners, tired plot points, and smirky references to the 21st century. There’s nothing wrong with a goofy romp through a re-booted Rome. But pop-culture references aren’t jokes in and of themselves, and when thinly applied and undersold they end up sliding off the story when they should be giving it a jazzy kick to the pants.
BroadwayWorld - Not Recommended
"...
It reminded me of a bad "Saturday Night Live" skit. Here's the premise. Emperoro Nero kills people. Lots of people. He's a tyrant. One tries not to be killed. He loves the arts. He hires an playwright to save his empire. There's blood. Body parts are thrown in the air. He sleeps with two women scantilly clad. There are inside jokes about the theater. But...I just didn't laugh."
