Review Roundup: Critics Sound Off On SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical on Tour!

Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is now on tour across America! SUMMER features a book by Tony Award® nominee Colman Domingo, Robert Cary and Tony Award® winner Des McAnuff, with songs by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Paul Jabara and others and is directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Tony Award® winner Sergio Trujillo, with music supervised by Ron Melrose and scenic design by Tony Award® nominee Robert Brill, costumes by Tony Award® winner Paul Tazewell, lighting by Tony Award® winner Howell Binkley, sound by Tony Award® nominee Gareth Owen and projections by Sean Nieuwenhuis. This tour is produced by the Dodgers and Tommy Mottola.

She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven, who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn't know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming the icon of an era and the inspiration for every music diva who followed. With a score featuring more than 20 of Summer's classic hits including "Love to Love You Baby," "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff," this electric experience is a moving tribute to the voice of a generation.

Let's see what the critics have to say!

Central New York

Colin Fleming-Stumpf, BroadwayWorld: The three main Donnas--Hardy, Hairston, and Williamson--give compelling and authentic acting performances, capturing both the highs and lows of Donna Summer's tumultuous life and career. Unbeknownst to many, including myself, Donna didn't slide easily into fame and stardom. She battled sexism, opportunistic and dishonest figures in the music industry, and even briefly walked away from performing. The three main actresses brought poise and believability to Donna during the many stages of her life.

Ohio

Mark Meszoros, News Herald: The performers aren't helped by the staging asked of them by folks such as the previously mentioned McAnuff, also the show's director. The odd mechanics of the show are best illustrated in the fact Williamson also plays Donna's mother, Mary Gaines, and often must bounce between her and Diva Donna at a moment's notice. It's a distracting creative choice at first, but you do get used to it - and thus are well prepared for the point when Hardy, looking just as she does as Duckling Donna, begins portraying Donna's oldest daughter, Mimi.

Andrea Simakis, Cleveland.com: We are offered but brief glimpses of her music industry trailblazing. For one thing, she wrote or co-wrote most of her songs, though we never see her actually composing anything, cheating us of the thrill of the art of creation that so animated "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical." Nor do we learn about how her music influenced styles ranging from house and techno to today's EDM.

Glenn Anderson, Star 102 Cleveland: The story never really congeals, and left you either asking questions why, or feeling that her story must not have been that important. The slickest of musicals find a way to intertwine the story and music so it feels like a complete thought, and this did not feel that way.

Seattle

Jay Irwin, BroadwayWorld: I honestly don't know what drove this show off the rails. Her life is filled with material to tell and I know Domingo is a much better writer than this. But for a show about a strong woman trying to break out of the mold men have forced her into, it seemed all they wanted to do was have her look and sing pretty and story be damned. And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give "Summer, The Donna Summer Musical" at the Paramount a "perplexed as to how laughable this was" MEH+. If you're a fan of Donna Summer and just want to hear some of her music, you'll be fine. But if you want a complete story, well this is just "Faster and Faster to Nowhere".

Eric Andrews-Katz, Equality 365: Summer is definitely an energetic show with good music and delivers a fun time. While the story doesn't shy away from some of the controversial subject matter in Ms. Summer's life (ie: molestation while in the church, struggling with inequality of men and women in pay and professional treatment, etc...), it doesn't dwell on them, showing us enough to make it's point and allow the implications to set in without drawing a picture for the audience. The show deals with, albeit maybe a bit too briefly, the controversial comment Ms. Summer made at a concert where she said: "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve". The explanation given is brief, but acceptable and all these years later, hopefully the GLBT community can be forgiving of the alleged faux pas. Either way, the story is interesting; it's told in an entertaining way, and no matter how you look at it, the music is classic and infectious.

Tempe

Nathaniel Jones, BroadwayWorld: SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical has everything you can ever want from a show depicting the Queen of Disco. This production, directed by Des McAnuff, takes the audience on a journey filled with laughs, more than a few tears, and all the dancing and then some expected from a show like this. If you're trying to find a great start to your new year, this show is it all the way to the last dance. This show leaves ASU Gammage on January 12th. Make sure you don't miss it.

St. Louis

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Summer" is to musicals what cotton candy is to nutrition. Directed by Des McAnuff and with a book by Colman Domingo, Robert Cary and McAnuff, it's a nonstop sugar high. There's no denying the enduring appeal of hits including "Bad Girls," "Hot Stuff," "Last Dance," "On the Radio" and "She Works Hard for the Money." But the show provides only the most superficial insight into what made Summer - who died in 2012 at age 63 - who she was.

Chicago

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune: If you are a fan, you may well find enough of that here to sustain your enjoyment. As has been popular of late, the show breaks Summer into thirds: a young Donna (Olivia Elease Hardy), a mid-career Donna (Alex Hairston) and a mature Donna (Dan'Yelle Williamson, who really nails "MacArthur Park.") All three of the women on the tour are just fine; in fact, Hardy, who is still a student, is an exceptional young talent. And most of Summer's big hits are in the show. But you do have to sit through some pretty rough scenes that veer back and forth between the personal and the professional, getting trapped in the behind-the-music-with-the-guys-in-suits stuff that so rarely works in these kinds of shows. It is a very rough book, carelessly abandoning most of its scenes in mid-flow for self-serving monologues.

Scott C. Morgan, Daily Herald: This device gives the older Donnas the luxury of introspection, plus it takes the pressure off one actress carrying the entire show, though it's clear that Williamson and Hairston could have pulled it off with their dynamic vocals and strong stage presence. Williamson and Hardy also get to respectively play Summer's mother and her eldest daughter. Unfortunately, this theatrical trifurcation isn't utilized to its fullest in the disappointing script by Colman Domingo, Robert Cary and Des McAnuff. They opt for a speedy overview that hopscotches back and forth through time while pausing at key moments as if to strike them from some sort of artistic checklist.

Paul Lockwood, Northwest Herald: The book of this musical - by Colman Domingo, Robert Cary, and Des McAnuff - is not the strength of SUMMER, though, with each of these aspects of Summer's life typically getting a short amount of time to deal with before we're brought into another song. The two Tony Awards for which the musical was nominated during its Broadway production in 2018 were for actresses in leading and supporting roles, not for the musical itself or the script. All that aside, thanks to the performances in Chicago, amazing lighting effects (by lighting designer Howell Binkley), a small but mighty band conducted by Amanda Morton, outstanding choreography by Sergio Trujillo, and that wonderful music, this is a fun, uninterrupted-by-intermission 100 minutes at the theater. And who doesn't love some the idea of a hot Summer in mid-winter?

Durham

Nicole Ackman, Broadwayworld: The show definitely takes a few numbers to get into its groove and for the audience to acclimate to its unique structure. It utilizes laugh and applause tracks at certain parts which can be a bit awkward in a less full, week-night audience where it's very apparent. But at just an hour and forty-five minutes with no intermission, the show is perfectly paced and never once does it seem to drag.

Dawn Reno Langley, Triangle Arts & Entertainment: The Donna who brings the voice alive, however, is Disco Donna, played by Alex Hairston, a Broadway veteran who nails Donna's songs so well that the audience often gasps. When she sings "Love to Love You, Baby," the epic growl and breathiness that Summer made her trademark is in full force. At that point in her career, Donna had starred onstage in Hair, released her music in Europe, and was about to become a major force in the American music industry.