Lehman Trilogy: with Phoenix Theater Company
fortunately, the cast is superb. Michael Stewart Allen, Josh Clark, and Michael Kary brilliantly portray the three patriarchs of the Lehman dynasty, Emanuel, henry, and Mayer, respectively. With nuance, depth, a range of accents, and varied body language, all three also seamlessly play a number of memorable and distinct Lehman descendants and other characters across the generations the play depicts. Their performances are authentic, with each one contributing to the breadth and depth of the story. -- Talking Broadway
Clark, Allen, and Kary are amazing in their versatility and range as they deftly transform themselves into their heirs and a variety of associated characters, each with distinctive accents and expressions, and all the while donned in Adriana Diaz’s immaculately tailored 19th century suits. --Broadway World
Merry Wives of Windsor: with The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ
Michael Stewart Allen is superb as the jealous Frank Ford, especially when he dons a disguise to smoke out his wife’s (supposed) infidelity. His apoplectic delivery is hilarious; just watching him morph from Ford to Brook and back to Ford again is a show in itself.--NJ Arts Maven
What would a Shakespeare comedy be without disguises? Michael Stewart Allen playing Frank Ford comes up with one of the funniest of the show. The facial disguise goes on in several pieces. Allen takes his time allowing the audience to take in each step resulting in many laughs and a crazy look that includes a costume suitable for a Russian play.--Let’s Go to the Theater
Private Lives: with The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ
A comic Delight! This gem of a production enjoys the excellent direction of Michael Stewart Allen and features a cast that captures the quirks of their distinctive characters. STNJ’s theme for this season is “Method and Madness,” and Private Lives is ideal to usher in the exciting season ahead.--Broadway World
Under the deft direction of Michael Stewart Allen, the cast nimbly performs Coward’s verbal gymnastics. They also are given two delicious, delightful, often hilarious pantomime scenes. The first takes place between acts 1 and 2 as Sibyl and Victor are reading their good-bye notes. As they read, the set is made to disappear, not merely in full view of the audience but, inventively, to Sibyl and Victor as well. They react in bewildered horror, providing a perfect visual metaphor for the breakdown of their new marriages. The other is during a spat in Amanda’s apartment where Elyot invokes their “safe word”, forcing them to stop speaking for two minutes. While their words have forced them apart, their enforced silence gives them time to cool down and remember just how much they care for each other — yet provokes a tension which becomes a sequence of cascading impatience as they count down the seconds until they can speak again.--Out in NJ
39 Steps: with Indiana Repertory Theatre and Syracuse Stage
The show relies heavily on the gag of four people playing a huge cast of characters. Much of the heavy lifting lands on the shoulders of Ema Zivkovic and Michael Stewart Allen who each play a revolving cast of characters with enthusiasm. Often, they play multiple roles in the same scene, swapping wigs or jackets for a pipe and hat. The pair bring such energy to the play that you can’t help watching their continuous transformations with wonder.--Broadway World
I lost track of how many characters we were introduced to — complete with costumes, wigs, props and different accents — through Zivkovic and Allen. Entertaining isn’t a strong enough word to describe what their joint performance felt like in real time. --Indianapolis Recorder
Macbeth: with Arkansas Repertory Theatre
it is Michael Stewart Allen’s Macbeth, however, who rules the stage with a grip as firm and inescapable as the king’s dark intentions. Every scorpion that plagues Macbeth’s mind is evident on Allen’s face and in his words, making each treacherous act more difficult to watch, and yet too entrancing to look away. --Soiree Magazine
Michael Stewart Allen as Macbeth carries the play. It is telling that several of the strongest scenes involve him alone on stage. --Arkansas Times
"Allen gives an exemplary performance. He is never less than commanding whenever he's on stage."--Arkansas democrat gazette
Comedy of Errors : with Illinois Shakespeare Festival
best of all, both sets of twins are perfectly cast. Michael Stewart Allen, who plays both the Antipholuses knocks his clever witticisms up to the back row. Honestly, he makes it look like playing two roles at the same time is easy. It's not...but Allen and Barsco are just< very funny actors. That's hard to do and their performances are as richly layered as the set and costumes in this simply wonderful show. --the Pantagraph
Much Ado About Nothing: with the Shakespeare Theater of NJ
the outstanding comic performance of the evening is Michael Stewart Allen’s Dogberry. From his malaprop-laden pronouncements to his reaction to events outside the “fourth wall”, he never fails to inspire laughter from the audience. Yet he is touching in a short speech, given as a soliloquy, in which we are allowed to see the man behind the buffoon — something i do not recall seeing in prior productions of this play. -- Out in New Jersey
Constellations: with Shaker Bridge Theater
Coons’ direction brings a natural and organic feel to the frequent scene replays. His empty stage is a study in simplicity, keeping all eyes on Hutchins and Allen as they tumble and twist into new configurations during the momentary blackouts, recalling a choreographed gymnastics floor routine as they shift to new corners of the playing space for each new iteration... The actors are so skilled that these moments carry their own interest and offer the pleasure that one finds in watching a virtuoso. -- Valley News
The Crucible: with Arkansas Repertory Theater
at the center of the story is John Proctor, played by Michael Stewart Allen. As the whole town resolves itself to madness, Allen gives a raw and resonating depiction of a man desperate for redemption for himself and his wife while his own demons hold him under much darker magic than any witch in Salem could conjure. --Soiree Magazine.
Long Day's Journey into Night: with Palm Beach Drama Works
Michael Stewart Allen is younger son Edmund, wracked with consumption (or a "summer cold" as his mother chooses to believe) and heart wrenching, especially in his latter monologue.--Talking Broadway
as the Tyrone’s, Creagan, Thompson, Allen and Anderman navigate a family dynamic awash in damnation, blame, disappointment and rare moments of aching grace. --southflorida.com
Allen’s Edmund starts out seeming jovial and optimistic, but he is a Tyrone whose artistic soul is well-conversant with the disappointments and cold realities. As O’Neill’s stand-in, Allen’s Edmund shows us the seeds of who would become one of this nation’s greatest writers. Like the others, Allen dives so deeply into the character that you forget he’s acting.--Florida Theater Onstage
Wait Until Dark: with Arkansas Repertory Theatre
the men are in the employ of the sinister Harry Roat, who is played by Michael Stewart Allen with a gleefully over-the-top indulgence in movieland villainy: shades, handbag and strutting oratory. In Allen's hands, he's a truly frightening character. One moment he's all bellowing rage; the next, he's possessed of a feline sadism, reveling in Susy’s helplessness and his own control.-- the Arkansas Times
there is one line, however, that no one questions. The lead bad guy, played by Michael Stewart Allen, is nothing but evil. Allen’s slow, deliberate movements, his methodical speech and crooked grin sound off every one of your warning alarms, even when you’re not sure why.
--Soiree Magazine
Michael Stewart Allen is absolutely malicious --Sync Weekly
War Horse: with The National Theater of Great Britain (North American and international tour)
War Horse” contains messages about loyalty, the horrors of war and the importance of keeping promises. Yet it’s when joey falls into the hands of a German officer that the play grows most thoughtful. Capt. Friedrich Muller (Michael Stewart Allen) makes a philosophical link between himself and Joey, who is now carting wounded soldiers instead of galloping on the front. Neither this man nor this beast was bred for the work each is being forced to do. --Detroit Free Press.
The Tempest: with The Old Globe
When the King of Naples (Donald Carrier) and his cohorts Sebastian (Michael Stewart Allen), Antonio (Anthony Cochrane), Gonzalo (Charles Janusz) and the rest first discover themselves cast adrift in a strange place where neither god's nor man's normal laws apply, the actors make their words vibrate or hiss with the dazzling potential for good or evil. --the LA Times
King Lear: with The Old Globe
Michael Stewart Allen radiates menace as the Duke of Cornwall, the cocky bantam who is married to Regan and who performs the eye-gouging on Gloucester.--San Diego Union Tribune
The Tempest: with The Shakespeare Theater of NJ
The unparalleled phantasmagoria that is ''The Tempest'' is being honored with considerable intelligence and ingenuity. It is hard to believe that Michael Stewart Allen, enshrouded in a rippling body cover as a most airy and lithe ariel, is not a professional dancer, so choreographically eloquent are his movements.--the New York Times.
Taming of the Shrew: with The Old Globe
Best of all in a secondary role, though, was Michael Stewart allen whose sadistic Cornwall in "Lear" was the stuff of nightmares. In "Shrew," he's the wily Tranio, a servant become so comically adept at play-acting as his master you may not want to see him unmasked at the end. --North County Times
Two Gentlemen of Verona: with the Acting Company
And, of course, the comedy has its share of clowns: the two manservants - Speed, played with impressive flair by Michael Stewart Allen, and Launce (Matt Bradford Sullivan) - are quite good. ---The New York Times