"She also doesn’t seem like the sort of woman to be cowed by Eleanor Katz’s nurse, Desiree, though Katz brings plenty of earthy wit to the role."- Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
"Eleanor Katz’s turn as Roxane’s crabby nurse is also a delight." - Alex Huntsberger, Time Out Chicago
"Each ensemble member takes on multiple roles throughout the play and put their whole heart into each one. Eleanor Katz has a larger than life personality in any character she plays." - Alexis Bugajski, Picture This Post
"The leading lady, Eleanor Katz plays Marion Kroft with a natural ease and tenacity. What else is there to say other than she was “born ready” to play this role. She has a wide breadth of emotions ranging from a worn out woman who knows the television game to a woman in love with her stage manager. Katz plays Marion with such mystery that we never really know what will be her end game. What is she actually thinking and to achieve what end? It feels like she relates to how women were treated in the 50s and shows the audience what they needed to do in order to be taken seriously in the television business. An outstanding performance backed by the other cast members who make this television show pop." - Alexis Bugajski, Picture This Post
"Like most of the cast, Eleanor Katz as Kroft and Clara Byczkowski as Harriet cleverly lampoon midcentury cinematic acting tropes without compromising the script’s sincere emotions." - Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader
"Jon Steinhagen's songs, Andria Emerick Brown's dances and Kate Setzer Kamphausen's quasi-Dior gowns re-create period ambience with museum accuracy, as do the onscreen acting styles of Eleanor Katz and Clara Byczkowski in the roles of the doomed heroines." - Mary Shen Barnridge, Windy City Times
"Strong-willed Fefu leaves her mark on her friends and Halcyon audience...Fefu (Eleanor Katz) is the hoydenish hostess, with a revolver on the sideboard that instantly recalls Henrik Ibsen's 'Hedda Gabler.'" - Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
"Of particular note are Eleanor Katz, who portrays the titular Fefu’s bubbly eccentricity and profound pain with equal nuance..." - Jessie Bond, Splash Magazine, Chicago
"Charlotte, in particular, bears the brunt of this, and you can’t help but feel for her as the splendid Eleanor Katz enacts her tribulations. And Katz does it with an authentic-sounding Yorkshire accent, not something you hear often in the U.S." - Suzanne Magnuson, Splash Magazine, Chicago
"Jutting also deserves praise for assembling a superb ensemble, in which the men are strong and the women ten times stronger. Katz’s Charlotte is the textbook bossy but caring older sister, yearning for independence while taking solace in her writing and her family." - Lauren Whalen, Chicago Theater Beat
"'Reassess,' sung by Laura, the Producer. Eleanor Katz really puts it out there with witty lyrics like “Rewatch Mama Mia”. Ms. Katz really showcases her ability to deliver a comic lyric with panache in this song." - John B. Boss, Chicago Stage Standard
"Conor repeatedly loses the girl by saying “yes” to anything suggested by Katz’s Laura who, as his producer, plays a Rosalind Russell-type second banana." - Aaron Hunt, Newcity Stage
"Katz reveals Jessie Mae's aching loss as a woman who has never found a sense of purpose to replace the children she never had and always wanted."
- Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
"But Montemurro, anchored in Spencer’s unsentimental performance, has us just where Foote wants us: rooting for Mrs. Watts, pitying her son in his barren marriage, despising her shallow daughter-in-law (played with luscious obnoxiousness by Eleanor Katz) and hoping the trip for which Mrs. Watts sacrifices so much turns out to be worth the effort. The production certainly is." - Kelly Kleiman, Dueling Critics
"Eleanor Katz is the epitome of the bored, stay-at-home wife who has discovered how to push the buttons that’ll get her what she wants. Yet, to Ms. Katz’s credit, her spoiled pioneer princess goes beyond caricature, which would be the easier way to play this role. The audience hates her and is appalled by how she treats her mother-in-law and her husband, but there are moments, like near the end of the play, where we see a glimmer of humanity lurking behind those red lips." - Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
"I was half-expecting Spencer to clock her resentful daughter-in-law (a delightfully bratty Eleanor Katz giving a performance not unlike Blanche Devereaux on a very bad day) rather than biting her tongue and rocking in her chair." - Chicago Theatre Addict
"Ludie ( deftly handled by Michael Boone) and his wife, Jessie Mae ( a powerful performance by Eleanor Katz) in Houston." - Michael Horn, Around The Town Chicago
"Each actor beautifully portrayed their characters...Eleanor is very believable in her part, especially when I met the actress after the performance, where she proved to be a sweet wonderful woman from New Jersey. I will have to say that the Texas dialects from these actors were very accurate...Eleanor’s character, Jessie Mae was from a more urban less simple community, which was evident in her speech and in her behavior. Therefore, the acting from Millie, Mike, and Eleanor was superb and made their performance compelling, heartwarming, and believable." - Russell Goeltenbodt, Showbiz Chicago
"Millicent Hurley Spencer anchors a marvelous cast that features terrific work from Eleanor Katz as the selfish daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae." - Tom Williams, Chicago Critic
"John Logan’s 1986 play, brought to stunning life by the BoHo Theatre...Eleanor Katz is equally strong as his wife, Anna, balancing grief with an inner strength that refuses to let her succumb, making her struggle all the more powerful." - Aeneas Sagar Hemphill , TimeOut Chicago
"We become reacquainted with feisty, plain-spoken Reggie Fluty (Eleanor Katz), the first police officer on the scene, who found the badly beaten Shepard bound to a fence outside the town...Their frank and truthful portrayals are such that even the briefest cameos leave an impression." - Barbara Vitello
"What emerges in the sensitive and detailed performances of the eight members of the ensemble (who all play multiple roles) is a sense of confusion and remorse, tempered with civic pride in the incremental changes that have occurred." - Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
"Eleanor Katz as the Nurse brilliantly captures every moment of that character’s essential comedy and pathos. - Centerstage Chicago
"The most compelling performance and the most extraordinary aspect of this production is created by Eleanor Katz. Her delivery of the Nurse is both hysterical and poignant. She brings the most truth to the story. Katz displays a deceptively incredible range, from laugh-out-loud funny to heartbreakingly evocative, that elevates every scene she is in to something captivating as well as honest." - Chicago Stage Review
"Katz delivers the strongest, earthiest, most nuanced performance." - Chicago Theatre Blog
"Justin Castellano is incredible as Joe and Kate's surviving son Chris. Likewise for Eleanor Katz, playing Chris' love interest Ann Deever. The chemistry between them is palpable; it is clear that Ann and Chris are in love, but they are not star-crossed lovers as each carries emotional baggage."
- Tony Buenning, Midland Reporter Telegram
"This production is blessed with an experienced and insightful cast. Katz once again displays her ability to bring both charm and depth to a role in her portrayal of Ann." - Ronald Bennett, Odessa American
" Eleanor Katz (Ophelia) was the special guest artist who also served as the fight choreographer. Katz brought to the role of Ophelia a sensitive understanding that emphasized her strengths as well as her vulnerability." - Ronald Bennett, Odessa American
"Elsa's presence is dramatically essential. Eleanor Katz plays the role with vehement conviction. The Stone Soup production gives an absorbing account of "The Road to Mecca's" insights into the human condition." - Joe Adcock, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"The Road to Mecca at Stone Soup Theatre is a star vehicle for the women - there are no silences. Double checkmarks to Katz, and honorable mentions to Miko and Grenley. Charlotte Tiencken directed." - Joe Boeling, Independent Seattle Reviewer
"At the heart of the drama are the two young women, Lala and Sunny, and their respective beaus. Lala knows she's never going to be the first choice for anything, and Eleanor Katz does a fine job of making her sympathetic and comically theatrical, so her affectations of Scarlett O'Hara seem more like accents than pure absurdities. When the actors are this good, and the director uses them this well, it results in the sort of evening that leaves an audience both moved and amused. What rare fun!" - Jerry Kraft, AISLE SAY
"Eleanor Katz’s turn as Roxane’s crabby nurse is also a delight." - Alex Huntsberger, Time Out Chicago
"Each ensemble member takes on multiple roles throughout the play and put their whole heart into each one. Eleanor Katz has a larger than life personality in any character she plays." - Alexis Bugajski, Picture This Post
"The leading lady, Eleanor Katz plays Marion Kroft with a natural ease and tenacity. What else is there to say other than she was “born ready” to play this role. She has a wide breadth of emotions ranging from a worn out woman who knows the television game to a woman in love with her stage manager. Katz plays Marion with such mystery that we never really know what will be her end game. What is she actually thinking and to achieve what end? It feels like she relates to how women were treated in the 50s and shows the audience what they needed to do in order to be taken seriously in the television business. An outstanding performance backed by the other cast members who make this television show pop." - Alexis Bugajski, Picture This Post
"Like most of the cast, Eleanor Katz as Kroft and Clara Byczkowski as Harriet cleverly lampoon midcentury cinematic acting tropes without compromising the script’s sincere emotions." - Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader
"Jon Steinhagen's songs, Andria Emerick Brown's dances and Kate Setzer Kamphausen's quasi-Dior gowns re-create period ambience with museum accuracy, as do the onscreen acting styles of Eleanor Katz and Clara Byczkowski in the roles of the doomed heroines." - Mary Shen Barnridge, Windy City Times
"Strong-willed Fefu leaves her mark on her friends and Halcyon audience...Fefu (Eleanor Katz) is the hoydenish hostess, with a revolver on the sideboard that instantly recalls Henrik Ibsen's 'Hedda Gabler.'" - Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
"Of particular note are Eleanor Katz, who portrays the titular Fefu’s bubbly eccentricity and profound pain with equal nuance..." - Jessie Bond, Splash Magazine, Chicago
"Charlotte, in particular, bears the brunt of this, and you can’t help but feel for her as the splendid Eleanor Katz enacts her tribulations. And Katz does it with an authentic-sounding Yorkshire accent, not something you hear often in the U.S." - Suzanne Magnuson, Splash Magazine, Chicago
"Jutting also deserves praise for assembling a superb ensemble, in which the men are strong and the women ten times stronger. Katz’s Charlotte is the textbook bossy but caring older sister, yearning for independence while taking solace in her writing and her family." - Lauren Whalen, Chicago Theater Beat
"'Reassess,' sung by Laura, the Producer. Eleanor Katz really puts it out there with witty lyrics like “Rewatch Mama Mia”. Ms. Katz really showcases her ability to deliver a comic lyric with panache in this song." - John B. Boss, Chicago Stage Standard
"Conor repeatedly loses the girl by saying “yes” to anything suggested by Katz’s Laura who, as his producer, plays a Rosalind Russell-type second banana." - Aaron Hunt, Newcity Stage
"Katz reveals Jessie Mae's aching loss as a woman who has never found a sense of purpose to replace the children she never had and always wanted."
- Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
"But Montemurro, anchored in Spencer’s unsentimental performance, has us just where Foote wants us: rooting for Mrs. Watts, pitying her son in his barren marriage, despising her shallow daughter-in-law (played with luscious obnoxiousness by Eleanor Katz) and hoping the trip for which Mrs. Watts sacrifices so much turns out to be worth the effort. The production certainly is." - Kelly Kleiman, Dueling Critics
"Eleanor Katz is the epitome of the bored, stay-at-home wife who has discovered how to push the buttons that’ll get her what she wants. Yet, to Ms. Katz’s credit, her spoiled pioneer princess goes beyond caricature, which would be the easier way to play this role. The audience hates her and is appalled by how she treats her mother-in-law and her husband, but there are moments, like near the end of the play, where we see a glimmer of humanity lurking behind those red lips." - Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
"I was half-expecting Spencer to clock her resentful daughter-in-law (a delightfully bratty Eleanor Katz giving a performance not unlike Blanche Devereaux on a very bad day) rather than biting her tongue and rocking in her chair." - Chicago Theatre Addict
"Ludie ( deftly handled by Michael Boone) and his wife, Jessie Mae ( a powerful performance by Eleanor Katz) in Houston." - Michael Horn, Around The Town Chicago
"Each actor beautifully portrayed their characters...Eleanor is very believable in her part, especially when I met the actress after the performance, where she proved to be a sweet wonderful woman from New Jersey. I will have to say that the Texas dialects from these actors were very accurate...Eleanor’s character, Jessie Mae was from a more urban less simple community, which was evident in her speech and in her behavior. Therefore, the acting from Millie, Mike, and Eleanor was superb and made their performance compelling, heartwarming, and believable." - Russell Goeltenbodt, Showbiz Chicago
"Millicent Hurley Spencer anchors a marvelous cast that features terrific work from Eleanor Katz as the selfish daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae." - Tom Williams, Chicago Critic
"John Logan’s 1986 play, brought to stunning life by the BoHo Theatre...Eleanor Katz is equally strong as his wife, Anna, balancing grief with an inner strength that refuses to let her succumb, making her struggle all the more powerful." - Aeneas Sagar Hemphill , TimeOut Chicago
"We become reacquainted with feisty, plain-spoken Reggie Fluty (Eleanor Katz), the first police officer on the scene, who found the badly beaten Shepard bound to a fence outside the town...Their frank and truthful portrayals are such that even the briefest cameos leave an impression." - Barbara Vitello
"What emerges in the sensitive and detailed performances of the eight members of the ensemble (who all play multiple roles) is a sense of confusion and remorse, tempered with civic pride in the incremental changes that have occurred." - Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
"Eleanor Katz as the Nurse brilliantly captures every moment of that character’s essential comedy and pathos. - Centerstage Chicago
"The most compelling performance and the most extraordinary aspect of this production is created by Eleanor Katz. Her delivery of the Nurse is both hysterical and poignant. She brings the most truth to the story. Katz displays a deceptively incredible range, from laugh-out-loud funny to heartbreakingly evocative, that elevates every scene she is in to something captivating as well as honest." - Chicago Stage Review
"Katz delivers the strongest, earthiest, most nuanced performance." - Chicago Theatre Blog
"Justin Castellano is incredible as Joe and Kate's surviving son Chris. Likewise for Eleanor Katz, playing Chris' love interest Ann Deever. The chemistry between them is palpable; it is clear that Ann and Chris are in love, but they are not star-crossed lovers as each carries emotional baggage."
- Tony Buenning, Midland Reporter Telegram
"This production is blessed with an experienced and insightful cast. Katz once again displays her ability to bring both charm and depth to a role in her portrayal of Ann." - Ronald Bennett, Odessa American
" Eleanor Katz (Ophelia) was the special guest artist who also served as the fight choreographer. Katz brought to the role of Ophelia a sensitive understanding that emphasized her strengths as well as her vulnerability." - Ronald Bennett, Odessa American
"Elsa's presence is dramatically essential. Eleanor Katz plays the role with vehement conviction. The Stone Soup production gives an absorbing account of "The Road to Mecca's" insights into the human condition." - Joe Adcock, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"The Road to Mecca at Stone Soup Theatre is a star vehicle for the women - there are no silences. Double checkmarks to Katz, and honorable mentions to Miko and Grenley. Charlotte Tiencken directed." - Joe Boeling, Independent Seattle Reviewer
"At the heart of the drama are the two young women, Lala and Sunny, and their respective beaus. Lala knows she's never going to be the first choice for anything, and Eleanor Katz does a fine job of making her sympathetic and comically theatrical, so her affectations of Scarlett O'Hara seem more like accents than pure absurdities. When the actors are this good, and the director uses them this well, it results in the sort of evening that leaves an audience both moved and amused. What rare fun!" - Jerry Kraft, AISLE SAY
