Reviews for 'Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes'
MLive - Ann Arbor News
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"You know you're entering the world of Hollywood silliness when a play's set has posters for movies like 'Copposites' and 'Gingerbread Man 2: The Passion of the Crust' (with the tagline, "Freshly baked terror!"). El Guindi's script traffics in humor a good deal, and this makes moments that threaten to get preachy more palatable. On opening night, the interplay between Morrison and Lopetrone produced the biggest sparks. Playing two men stridently making a case to each other, the actors spar and scold and cajole. And because Ashraf uses his intellect and wit to grapple with his choices, he's a winning, appealing character with whom we identify. Powers, meanwhile, exudes an easy, no-fuss sense of authority as Julius, wearing worn shorts, a flak jacket, and a floppy hat to the meeting. His even-keeled self-assuredness effectively plays off Lopetrone's broader emotions, particularly as Julius makes his (somewhat cynical) case for moving forward with the project." - Jenn McKee, MLive.com
ENCORE MICHIGAN
"Part forum, part farce, El Guindi’s comedy owes a bit to all those Faust tales about selling one’s soul to the devil, and perhaps a little something to Alice Childress’ 1955 drama 'Trouble in Mind,' in which an African-American actress finds herself cast in a Broadway play that depicts black people unrealistically. All the action takes place in Barry’s office. Ashraf and Barry are eventually joined by the revered director and the hot actress, while Barry’s secretary comes and goes. Under Carla Milarch’s brisk direction at Theatre Nova, 'Jihad Jones' is consistently entertaining." - MartinF. Kohn, EncoreMichigan.com
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Examiner.com
"[Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes] offers a pretty apt caricature of the type of 'benign' racism prevalent today. The more Ashfraf thinks about it, the angrier he gets. The angrier he gets, the more he starts to resemble the fanatical, unreasonable terrorist in the script. And the more he tries to seem 'not crazy' - the crazier it all becomes." - Patty Nolan, Examiner.com