NY1 - Highly Recommended
"As delightfully engaging as it is astonishingly true…Its charm comes from playwright Richard Strand's amusingly nuanced characterizations…The excellent cast are period perfect. Best of all, Ames Adamson's irascible Butler and John G.Williams scrappy Mallory emerge quite convincingly as kindred spirits. Directed by Discher with an eye for comedy and drama, 'Butler' is quite a marvelous feat - a boffo character study and suspense yarn spun from little more than a loophole in the law."
CurtainUp - Recommended
"Though 'Butler' is indeed talky, it's never a dry history lesson. The talk between Butler and Mallory is both amusing and witty…It was the playwright's challenge to put his own spin on the people involved so that they would be compelling characters rather than documentary style talking heads. In meeting that challenge, Strand has created a play that will have a solid life."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"The playwright has accomplished two fairly remarkable things. First, he has taken an actual historic event and characters and turned it into an engrossing, non-pedantic play…More surprising, the play is delightfully funny, packed with wit, farce, and slapstick…Each of the characters is splendidly realized, and the production is first-rate all around...All told, this is a terrific show for history buffs and for anyone who can appreciate the savvy mixture of a serious topic with a comic touch."
TheaterMania - Highly Recommended
"Richard Strand's 'Butler' might just be the funniest play ever written about Civil War-era slavery...'Butler' tackles a serious subject in a way that is simultaneously thought-provoking and sidesplitting...In his own humorous and very watchable way, Strand hits at a larger truth: specifically, that the arc of the moral universe is often bent toward justice by the sophistry of prickly, stubborn individuals."
TheaterScene.net - Highly Recommended
"‘Butler' is a tale of conscience, courage and transcendence. As Major General Benjamin Butler, Ames Adamson has risen to power but is faced with a decision that could change the game for slavery in America. Many of the themes surrounding a nation divided such as injustice, prejudice and lack of understanding remain extremely relevant today. Instead of ignoring the issues or using power as the only weapon, ‘Butler' uses empathy and understanding as a means to connect."
Theatre Is Easy - Highly Recommended
"'Butler's' amazingly talented writer Richard Strand makes great use of such spectacular attention to the detailed specificity of language. Every word is included for a reason… Adamson, Sterling, Williams, and Sitler all are masters at their craft...Each component of the production works seamlessly together, from the clever script and these wonderful actors to director Joseph Discher, who displays their gifts in the best possible light."
NY Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended
"An invigorating gabfest...You are laughing out loud at the sheer brilliance of the argument, and at other times the words cut deeper than a musket bayonet as the wounds of race, slavery, privilege, and pomposity fester…It is beyond satisfying. The quartet of descanting performers create a beautiful play together under the exceptional eye of director Joseph Discher, who has fashioned a stylish, eloquent production drenched in detail…The performances are riveting."
Theatre Reviews Limited - Highly Recommended
"These three fascinating characters are developed with precision and real depth...These conflicts drive a complicated and intriguing plot that is rich in imagery and figurative language and includes heartfelt drama as well as endearing comedy…Sterling's Lieutenant Kelly is the perfect foil for General Butler's bluster and these two actors make magic together on stage…Joseph Discher directs with passion and sensitivity and brings out the best in his talented ensemble cast."
Stage Buddy - Recommended
"Adamson plays Butler as large as he can be and his transitioning from rage to compunction and back again is a joy to watch…Shepard Mallory, assisted by Williams' bold and lively portrayal, is similarly contrary and sporadically aggressive, but the good sense of his plea contains a tempting compromise…Playwright Strand's decision to put emphasis on comedy may have been risky, but 'Butler' loses none of its pathos in revelry."
Theater Pizzazz - Highly Recommended
"Strand's set-up in the extremely capable hands of the director and talented actors provides the foundation for the play's humor, characterizations, future thematic tropes and key issues…Strand's brilliant writing configures the steps that show how Butler arrives at the logic to override the Fugitive Slave Law. Though we know the ultimate conclusion, it is how Strand takes us there that is surprising and magnificent…The production is just stunning! 'Butler' is marvelous theater."
Front Row Center - Highly Recommended
"Playwright Richard Strand's dialogue is funny and impressive. He makes brilliant use of what stand-up comedians refer to as ‘call backs'...This creates an attractive sense of coherence, a growing inside joke...This very appealing technique is delivered masterfully...It's hard to imagine anything about the Civil War being funny, but this play, inspired by true events, has shown us just that in an intelligent, dramatic way
Woman Around Town - Highly Recommended
"Strand's fine play takes a serious subject and illuminates it with insight, humanity, and humor…Adamson is splendid as Butler...Director Joseph Discher creates stage pictures as effectively as the cast inhabits their characters…There are moments in the latter part of 'Butler' when the thoroughly engrossed audience vocally reacted to a character–something rare in serious theater. We rose as one at the finish. Not, as is usually the case, like lemmings, but in support of a wonderful production."
Off Off Online - Highly Recommended
"The setting is indubitable, and the laughs are plentiful, so if it stands alone in a genre of one, it doesn't matter…The meat of the play is the debate between general and slave about asylum. As in many classic comedies, the servant is a shrewd cookie...Williams's skillful performance keeps the right balance...A strong, satisfying comedy...'Butler' makes one want to hear more from Richard Strand."
Theatres Leiter Side - Recommended
"‘Butler's' style is heightened for dramatic effect, its tone is mildly anachronistic, and its details conflated, so you have to take much of it with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, it's a historical drama about something that actually happened that manages to be relatively faithful to its source material while being both informative and highly entertaining."
Bobs Theater Blog - Highly Recommended
"What playwright Richard Strand has written is an unlikely blend of biography, Civil War history, drama and comedy that is both entertaining and informative…It hardly seems like promising material for comedy, but the play is very funny. The four characters are vividly drawn and well acted by the cast, all holdovers from the original production...Joseph Discher's direction is seamless. It adds up to a surprisingly enjoyable experience."
Manhattan Digest - Recommended
"Strand's drama is a crisp cat-and-mouse game with snappy dialogue and verbal jousting. It seems rather inappropriate to consider it a comedy, but Strand has managed to infuse his negotiations with razor sharp wit, all of which is delivered by a top notch cast under Joseph Discher‘s excellent direction."
Wolf Entertainment Guide - Highly Recommended
"An entertaining, meaningful drama…Sharp writing by playwright Richard Strand and superb acting create tension and sparks, enabling an audience to get caught up in what is clearly an anti-slavery treatise…Williams's acting as Mallory is so winsome that one may especially root for him to prevail....'Butler' provides plenty of food for thought, along with the fine performances, the issues raised and the humor that flourishes even when the stakes are so seriously high for so many."
Plays To See - Somewhat Recommended
"The witty dialogue forms the foundation for the relationships, and makes for a compelling way to trace history...The play paints a complex picture of the financial and political price of doing what is right, while creating characters that are quite funny and relatable. A lack of detail on the characters' pasts or emotional stakes hinders deeper resonance with their stories, and the actors are not given many chances to be vulnerable with each other."
Broadway and Me - Recommended
"A surprisingly genial comedy…Some might quibble with this interpretation of the way things might have been but history is always subjective and susceptible to myth making ...It's a delicate balancing act and director Joseph Discher brings it off, letting the audience know that it's OK to laugh but refusing to let the show devolve into a cartoon…Ames Adamson gives a wonderfully sympathetic performance."
Broadway World - Highly Recommended
"With an extraordinary, artful script by Richard Strand, meticulous direction by Joseph Discher and four excellent actors, the show is a wonderfully staged, unforgettable story of humanity...More than an entertaining show, it is a significant piece of theater and a timeless exploration of social conscience and individual responsibility. In the current climate of political discord, it is a refreshing look at how men of very different backgrounds find a sense of commonality."
