Washington Post - Recommended
"...The production revs with sensory appeal, from Brittany Diliberto's rock concert lighting design to the sinister/bombastic music by Konstantine Lortkipanidze. This is Synetic at full throttle, although fueled far more by energy than wit. This "Musketeers" isn't stupid, but it's exhausting; while some audiences will be thrilled by the restless propulsion, it's fair to wonder if this one-of-a-kind troupe is in danger of getting stuck with its foot on the gas pedal."
Washington Examiner - Highly Recommended
"...Playwrights Ben Cunis and Peter Cunis have done an extraordinary job adapting Alexandre Dumas' novel "The Three Musketeers" to the stage at Synetic Theatre. As in the original, it is a sprawling historical saga, a swashbuckling adventure tale, an intense romance and a fascinating drama of political intrigue."
MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended
"...A stellar cast, mixing the young and Synetically established, the characters roar with life (sometimes literally). The musketeers - Ben Cunis as the brooding Athos, Hector Reynoso as the boisterous Porthos, Matthew Ward as the stylishly sly Aramis and Dallas Tolentino as the eager D'Artagnan - are each simply but cleverly drawn and together generate the kind of unself-conscious, old-fashioned chemistry currently in danger of disintegration in film vaults. And not only can they all act (especially in the case of the silver-tongued Ward), their swashbuckling is as acrobatic as it is convincing."
WeLoveDC - Highly Recommended
"...Though the production gives itself over wholeheartedly to the choreography, The Three Musketeers does have a certain message peeking through. This larger-than-life adventure is in some ways quite cynical, as it explores how the action in our lives changes us for better and for worse. Our hero finds, as many of us do, that politics and religion can complicate even the best laid utopian plans."
Washington City Paper - Recommended
"...If a fantastic Synetic swordfight is de rigeur, director Paata Tsikurishvilli has a few new tricks up his puffed sleeves. For the foppish French King Louis XIII and the philandering British minister Lord Buckingham, he's hired a pair of classically trained actors; Robert Bowen Smith is particularly disarming as the monarch more interested in balls (royal, tennis, and otherwise) than foreign affairs. The director has also experimented with stop-motion tableaux, a tactic brilliantly deployed in a ballroom scene in which the caped crusaders toss around a much-sought-after diamond brooch."
Washingtonian - Recommended
"...Cunis and Tsikurishvili make for a striking pair, but the play's heart belongs to Dallas Tolentino as the likable and determined D'Artagnan, a brash and open-hearted young man set on joining the King's guard even as Richelieu (a marvelously devious Dan Istrate) works to make them irrelevant. Tolentino has the right boyish charm and determination for the character, and he still allows the audience to laugh along with his over-the-top confidence and optimism. Also providing comic relief are Hector Reynoso, whose Porthos is short on words but full of lust for life, and Matthew Ward as the womanizing yet pious Aramis, who is always finding himself in one romantic entanglement or another. The production's comedic sensibilities are a pleasant surprise, but it's the show's visual impressions, from the Musketeers' vigorous pantomimed horse-riding to the looming, blood-red and gold throne of snakes upon which Richeliu perches, that linger the most."
DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"...Director Paata Tsikurishvili mentions, to specialize in "purely visual imagery and non-traditional storytelling," continuing to make Synetic Theater one of the most innovative, exciting theatres around."
Alexandria Times - Highly Recommended
"...Set to an olio of bal-musette, a dash of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" and a soupçon of exhilarating orchestral pieces, the play is a departure from Synetic's Silent Shakespeare Series but keeps to the troupe's same riveting dance-centric tradition."
MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended
"...With comic dialogue and dramatic scenes, romantic dance and slap-stick foolery, sword fighting from one end of the stage to the other, with an evil Cardinal Richelieu and a gorgeous Queen Anne and resourceful Constance, and of course with three not-so-honorable Musketeers and one more-than-honorable wannabe Musketeer, what this show does not have is probably only what director Paata Tsikurishvili decided not to squeeze in."
DCTheatreScene - Recommended
Bold prison breaks, hearty sword fights, and tales of treachery and rescue are the hallmarks of French novelist Alexandre Dumas’ beloved classic, The Three Musketeers, and Synetic Theater has taken that and run with it in their newest adaptation, directed by Paata Tsikurishvili.
