Review Roundup: STILL, Starring Melissa Gilbert and Mark Moses

The Colt Coeur production of Still by Lia Romeo and directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, stars Melissa Gilbert and Mark Moses. The 8-week return engagement just opened at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture’s Loreto Theater. 

Still is a funny yet heart-wrenching story for anyone who has ever wondered “what if?”. Thirty years ago, Helen and Mark broke up, but they never completely forgot one another. Now, they are getting a second chance at first love. Single, and frustrated with dating apps, they are ready to try again. But Mark has an agenda and Helen has a secret that could derail his plans. 

Check out what the critics are saying about the new production!

Tulis McCall, The Front Row Center: I don’t read the PR (Egad!) materials sent o me for most productions I see. I had enough of people telling me what to think in the Catholic Church. These days I go in unprepared and wait to see what happens. So it came as a surprise to me that I had seen a production of Lia Romeo‘s STILL last year And I repeat what I said at that time. Ditch the first act. The very little that is accomplished could be swept directly into the second act with no one the wiser.

Deborah Skolnik, Scarsdale Insider: This tension is overlaid with a nearly smothering blanket of anxiety. The audience is keenly aware that Helen and Mark have a limited amount of time to move on from their differences, and not solely because of Mark’s travel schedule. Helen pointedly informs Mark she is a very slow writer, having taken seven years to complete her last book. Is she ready now to begin a new chapter and meet Mark halfway? As the couple teeters between happiness and hopelessness, there’s something to make everyone watching feel by turns righteous and uncomfortable. Still, it turns out, is deeply moving.

Ron Fassler, Theater Pizzazz: That Lia Romeo has put two sixty-somethings front and center is commendable for a younger playwright to concern herself with and that Adrienne Campbell-Holt has led excellent actors like Melissa Gilbert and Mark Moses to sterling performances is worthy of excessive praise. What Still offers is food for thought that makes for a fine meal, especially for those hungry enough (and willing enough) to bite into something substantial.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: “Still” largely works for me, in no small measure because of the two performances. These are pros. They make the most of Romeo’s crackling back-and-forth. Every pause, every switch in tone feels just right; their timing is exquisite.The timing of the production as a whole, however, is more problematic for me. Colt Coeur produced the same play ten months ago at a different New York venue, with the same creative team but a different cast. Much has happened in the last ten months – must has happened in the last ten days! – to make most New York theatergoers surely view Mark’s arguments on behalf of “moderate” Republicans as outdated and delusional.

Deb Miller, DC Theater Arts: Under Campbell-Holt’s fluid fast-paced engaging direction, Gilbert and Moses consummately capture their characters’ growing ease and attraction, teasing and then reassuring one another, kissing, and kissing again in the bar, retreating to his room and reviving the intimate connection they had in the past.

Average Rating: 76.0%