Critical Praise for
MARC KUDISCH
Tartuffe (2012)
"Certain
actors are born to play certain roles, and Marc Kudisch as the title character in the constantly engaging…production
of Moliere's Tartuffe…is
unquestionably one of them. With a face and physique resembling something that
might have been drawn by a Marvel Comics illustrator and with his ingrained
self-deprecatory attitude, the enormously talented performer has to be one of
the most well-cast players who's ever taken on the religious charlatan and imbued
him with a whopping quantity of theatrical delight. Constantly kissing the
cross he wears around his neck and casting his eyes heavenward, Kudisch is never funnier than in the set-piece where, to
prove her contention that Tartuffe isn't what he claims to be, Elmire (Nadia Bowers), wife to the bamboozled Orgon (Mark Nelson), entices Tartuffe into seducing her on
a table under which her husband is listening in. For sure, the scene wouldn't
be as hilarious if Bowers did not match Kudisch
rhymed couplet for rhymed couplet in comic aplomb."
– David
Finkle, Theater
Mania
"But
once Marc Kudisch, the Broadway veteran, makes his
entrance — wearing all black, weighed down with stringy hair, a scruffy beard
and a countenance that seems like a variation on Jeff Bridges’s
Dude persona — he has us, like Orgon, in the palm of
his hand. And when he appears to be exposed, he bawls like a televangelist
(say, Jimmy Swaggart or Jim Bakker),
confessing in a pained voice: 'I am a wicked man, I fear. A
wretched sinner.'"
–
Anita Gates, The
New York Times
"Marc Kudisch plays the title character as a combination rock
star and Magic Mike, a sexy Tartuffe who may just seduce you, too. In some
productions, the role is so overplayed the character practically twirls a
mustache and is appealing as death. But here the handsome, long-haired Kudisch plays him much more subtley,
showing how a charismatic man of well-practiced charms and guile can sway the
many -- though not all – who seek unearned blessings. …Kudisch
is best known for his musical theater roles. He's earned three Tony Award
nominations. But his non-musical chops are equally impressive. He took a
well-done dramatic turn in Summer and
Smoke opposite Amanda Plummer at Hartford Stage and here his comic
interpretation and timing is impeccable."
– Frank
Rizzo, The
"Kudisch, a handsome, accomplished musical comedy star who's
quite at home playing egotistical, self-satisfied, overly confident characters,
resists any temptation to portray Tartuffe as a preening pretty-boy. With
unkempt long hair dangling down to his shoulders, Kudisch
resembles a contemporary guru who declares his pronouncements with the utmost
seriousness. Like your friendly neighborhood sociopath, he seems to genuinely
believe in what he professes, although he's certainly
not above taking advantage should a fortuitous situation unexpectedly present
itself. As a result, Kudisch's Tartuffe comes off
more dangerous and deadly than one might expect."
– Andrew
Beck, Examiner.com
"Kudisch’s take on the old rascal Tartuffe finds itself
beyond reproof. Rather than obviating him as a cad, the actor makes us
question: 'Is he really that bad?' Of course, in time, we realize his plot, but
we know why Orgon bought what he bought."
– Jacques
Lamarre, Broadway
World
Blue Flower (2011)
"Marc
Kudisch, no stranger to cutting-edge musicals, is … astonishing
as Max."
–
Steven Suskin, Variety
"Marc
Kudisch performs the challenging feat of singing
several snatches of song in a made-up language created by his character, Max...
Maxperanto… the talented Mr. Kudisch
sings it with the same expressive gusto he brings to the rest of his
performance."
–
"Marc
Kudisch (A
Minister’s Wife) once again shines in a challenging role."
–
"...The
best new musical since Spring Awakening.
… Marc Kudisch [as Max is] in the performance of his
career…"
–
Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg
A Minister's Wife (2011)
"Mr.
Kudisch sings with an aptly robust, rich tone the
role of James, the civic-minded minister whose dedication to his work earns him
the fervid admiration of his young curate... Mr. Kudisch
captures both the character’s innate goodness and his egoism, a satisfaction he
takes in leading his small flock of devoted followers."
– New York Times
"A
charismatic Marc Kudisch plays the blowhard Morell so well that it is hard to root against him."
– Associated Press
"Marc
Kudisch (Morell) is one of
the best actors in our musical theater … and his combination of power and zest,
touched with a delicate hint of insecure self-consciousness, carries the
evening."
– Village Voice
"All
five players [including Kudisch] are completely at
ease with the long monologues that Mr. Pendleton has drawn more or less
directly from Shaw's play, and they handle Mr. Schmidt's tricky score with
sweet assurance. ... I can't imagine any other cast striking a better balance
between song and speech."
– Wall Street Journal
9 to 5 (2009)
"Marc
Kudisch – let's give the men credit where it's due –
is a deliciously creepy and utterly credible unreconstructed male who has no
insight into his behaviour and no shame ('you are
nothing but a typewriter with tits' he tells Doralee),
which makes his comeuppance all the more sweet."
– The Guardian (
"And
we haven't even gotten to Kudisch, the chauvinistic
boss who finds himself at the mercy of the avenging females. His performance is
riotously on target, both physically and vocally. Kudisch
possesses one of those rich,
booming
voices that lets you understand every lyric. "
– Associated Press
"Director
Joe Mantello and book writer Patricia Resnick (adapting her own screenplay) wisely keep '9 to 5'
firmly in its original period. A character plays with a Rubik's Cube; horrid
executive Franklin Hart (the fantastically funny Marc Kudisch)
is gently told he should 'switch to Sanka.'"
– NY Post
"Marc
Kudisch's divinely dastardly Hart is the other. If
there were a Tony Award for best sport, Kudisch would
be a leading contender; his villain is bound, lassoed, shot and poisoned - and
that's just in a Disney-themed hallucination sequence that's one of director
Joe Mantello's more inspired touches. "
–
"Kudisch is a hilarious and oddly lovable scoundrel as the 'sexist,
egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot' who fuels the women's revenge fantasies, and his comic chemistry with the irresistible Hilty is especially sharp."
– Variety
"…
the horrible honcho [is] played with delicious
maliciousness by Marc Kudisch."
– NY Daily News
The Glorious Ones (2007)
"Marc
Kudisch dominates the proceedings, by rights and by
the velvety richness of his voice, as the vagabond troupe's confident leader, Flaminio Scala."
–
"[The Glorious Ones] is blessed by the
presence of Marc Kudisch, as close as we get today to
a dashing leading-man from the golden-age of musical theater."
–
Linda Winer, Newsday
The Witches of Eastwick
(2007)
"In
the category of Best Featured Performance by a Pelvis, the prize this year goes
by acclamation to the midsection of Marc Kudisch
[who] plays salacious Darryl Van Horne, a.k.a. lord of the underworld... an
independent analysis of Kudisch's DNA finds that his
suitability for the role is encoded on his 10th chromosome (that's the one,
apparently, carrying the gene for showstoppers). In other words, the guy's irresistible, and one of several reasons that this guilty
pleasure of a musical makes a crowd-pleasing bow in its American premiere in Shirlington. …Speaking of personality, Schaeffer imbues his
"Witches" with it. Luckily for him as well as for us, the evening's
star oozes it, too. Devil though he may be, Kudisch
here is heaven-sent."
–
Peter Marks, Washington Post
The Apple Tree (2006)
"All
three of the principals have angelic voices... Mr. Kudisch,
who becomes two very different but equally droll narrators in the second act,
has a canny grasp of the styles he is sending up."
–
Ben Brantley, New York Times
"...Both
d'Arcy James and Kudisch have glorious voices; more
important, they also both have the manly grace and self-deprecation that actors
such as Cary Grant and Robert Preston had to spare, but isn't a common
commodity in today's musical leading men."
– David
Finkle, TheaterMania.com
"As
Snake, Balladeer and Narrator, Marc Kudisch provides
a fiendishly subtle triple threat."
–
Clive Barnes, New York Post
"As
for Kudisch, he so slithers through "Diary"
as the nefarious Snake … that you might find his demented logic just as
seductive as she does. He later becomes so likeable as the Balladeer who leads
us through "Tiger" and as the narrator of "Passionella"
that he seems an entirely different performer altogether, as unthinkable
playing the serpentine Snake as puffed-chest stuffed shirts and
borderline-demonic types he's played so brilliantly throughout his career.
Never has he seemed so comfortable, so versatile, so light on his feet."
– Matthew
Murray, Talkin' Broadway
Summer and Smoke (2006)
"Marc Kudisch [is] excellent…you can see why John Buchanan Jr.,
the hedonistic young doctor Alma has known since their shared childhood, would
be attracted to her. John isn’t a fully drawn role, but Mr. Kudisch
(best known for Broadway musicals like “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”) strikes an
artful balance between sensual self-indulgence and moral self-disgust."
–
Ben Brantley, New York Times
See What I Wanna
See (2005)
"As
the C.P.A. turned bag man, the excellent Mr. Kudisch struts his voice with a variety and penetration never
afforded by his roles in Broadway behemoths like "Thoroughly Modern
Millie.""
–
Ben Brantley, New York Times