Review Highlights: LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT'S SHOULDER at The Phoenix Theatre Company

Kelcey Watson
Photo by Billy Hardiman

 

highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)

Click here for more information on this production that runs through December 14

"James Still's Looking Over the President's Shoulder is a one-man show about Alonzo Fields, who served as the head butler in the White House for two decades. The play, inspired by Fields' own memoir, "My 21 Years in the White House," captures the unique perspective of a man who witnessed history from just outside the spotlight, serving four presidents from Hoover to Eisenhower. While The Phoenix Theatre Company's production is well cast and directed and succeeds in shedding light on Fields' remarkable life and the quiet dignity with which he carried out his work, Still's play is somewhat uneven in tone and pacing, resulting in a piece that is intriguing but also disjointed."   - Gil Benbrook, TalkinBroadway.com (click here to read the complete review)

"Taking an insightful look at how four different men handled their Presidential duties through the thoughtful eyes of The White House’s Chief Butler is the premise of “Looking Over the President’s Shoulder,” The Phoenix Theatre Company’s superb one-man show."   -Chris Curcio, Curtain Up Phoenix (click here to read the complete review)

"There are stories that shout history, and there are stories that whisper it. James Still’s LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENTS SHOULDER, now at The Phoenix Theatre Company through December 14th under Chanel Bragg’s sure-handed direction, belongs firmly to the latter. In this one-man play, history unfolds through the recollections of Alonzo Fields. For more than two decades, he stood deferential yet dignified, serving four U.S. presidents as chief butler and witnessing history from its margins."   - Herbert Paine, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)