"...the original puppet creations (here designed by Tanya Khordoc & Barry Weil of Evolve Puppets) are a highlight. The...giant Warhol is a delight to behold. Even more memorable is a child-sized puppet which appears earlier, as we learn of Andy’s childhood struggle with a neurological disorder. It’s a wonderfully melancholy creation, a delightful design that suggests a very sad little boy." -- Joey Sims, Theaterly.com
“One really delightful aspect of the play is the large, colorful parrot that sits on [Long John] Silver’s shoulder and flies about the stage, all the time held by actress [Skyler] Volpe. After fifteen minutes or so, you don’t realize she is holding it and see the parrot as an independent character (as in the horses in War Horse). It is a nice trick.”
-- Bruce Chadwick, History News Network
"Charming and fun to watch....The artists take the audience on journeys that are insightful and invigorating as well as enjoyable. The Most Radiant Beauty is billed as 'an Einsteinian collage in found text.' Khordoc and Weil have created a toy theater adventure that takes audiences through the words and thoughts of Albert Einstein and other brilliant people (Galileo, Copernicus, Oppenheimer, Newton, and Curie, to name just five). Stories from the Bible (of creation, Cain and Abel) are interspersed with quotations from these various scientists, who ponder the nature of what's knowable and the awesome responsibilities of dabbling with elements of nature (radium, the atom) that could well destroy the world as we know it...[It's] a stream-of-consciousness stroll through Big Ideas, with puppets, lightboxes, lightbulbs, shadow figures, and more as our guides. Khordoc and Weil translate their own sense of wonder beautifully, and help us see and hear familiar concepts anew as a result."
-- Martin Denton, nytheater.com
"…intriguing...a fascinating collage about life as most of us don’t know it."
-- Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
"…the winsome puppets and gentle humor convey the importance of tolerating difference and the right of all people to define their own identity...these lovingly created stories work magic in transforming seeming limitations into privileges."
– Christopher Murray, Backstage
"Following the melody, I pass through the crowds and eventually find...a truly shrine-like toy theatre, sumptuously furnished with gold ornamentation and based around an elegant proscenium arch frame. Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weil of puppetry company Evolve are dressed in vintage threads...as they manipulate two-dimensional panels of scenery and figures in silent communion with the music. Imagery is Victorian, figures are etched in black and white and scenery is lush and bedecked with satin and sequins. Two faces steal a mournful kiss before being separated. Two lovers dance around each other briefly, then part. Boxes, doors and chests close, sealing within them, we suspect, secrets and tears. This, I call the New Romantic Toy Theatre. A new form of animation which is delicately manipulated by hand, in the present moment, as opposed to the refined programming of a computer. A simple moving-around of flat images to create metaphors which last for a few seconds but speak volumes. A softly-spoken, understated collection of visual messages which work with a piece of music to unravel stories buried within it, allowing the ear to work with the eye simultaneously to bring emotions alive."
-- Wyrd Motion, greatsmall.blogspot.com
"We went to see Becoming by Evolve, a blacklight puppetry company. On a rainy Sunday, we sat in the storefront theater packed with kids ranging from three to ten years old. They all sat quietly, mesmerized by the blacklight puppetry...Both children and adults were in awe of the beautiful artistry. There was no dialogue, and I loved it because there wasn’t a goofy plot or jokes to appease the audience, like many theatrical performances aimed toward children. After the performance they repeated the entire show with the lights on so that kids could see how the puppeteers manipulate the blacklight puppets. The puppeteers also answered questions from the audience. When the show was over, the children were invited to make their own blacklight puppets. The kids made butterflies decorated with marker that glows in the dark. [The theater]...dimmed the lights and the children were able to see their colorful puppets and pretend to be puppeteers."
-- Alison Lowenstein, Carroll Gardens Patch
"[This] faithful adaptation of Vonnegut's novel is accompanied...by video footage of ingenious miniature sets for the book's locales."
-- John Beer, The Village Voice
“Because the show takes place in many different settings, [director Edward] Einhorn was wise to hire Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weil of the Evolve Company. They solved the multiple set problem by building scale models, and then employing a videographer to zero in on each, and project the immensely larger image on the back wall. To quote Bokonon, 'Nice, nice; very nice.'”
-- Theatermania.com
"One of the more creative aspects of the show is how it sets up the various locations. There is a tall rack of shelves sitting upstage on which there are scale models of the locales. A camera on a stick is moved around the models while the picture is projected on a...screen behind the action. These models, designed by Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weil, are very detailed and quite beautiful."
-- Richard Hinojosa, nytheatre.com
"…one wholly original device is the playful model set designed by Evolve Company (Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weil)...It's also totally in sync with the text -- Mr. Weil, who spends most of the play manipulating a miniature camera along tiny streets, doubles as the elusive Frank Hoenniker, an excitable man-child who enjoys models."
-- Aaron Riccio, New Theatre Corps
"Motormorphosis, directed, designed, and performed by Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weil, is a funny puppet piece that brings to mind Ionesco's Rhinoceros...the two puppeteers interpreting all the roles provide the show with style, unity, and graceful speed."
-- Saviana Stanescu, nytheatre.com
"Really intelligent design...it may not be Darwin, but it sure is fun."
-- The New York Times
"Witty and delightful"
-- Peter Lewis, The Puppet Master
"One of my favorite pieces of the evening was Nellie, a hilarious sort-of parody of the old movie Lili, featuring some delightful puppets (brilliantly designed by Barry Weil) such as Oedipus, Quasimodo, and Captain Hook"
-- Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
"The piece is enhanced by a terrifically funny quartet of puppets representing disabled celebrities from literature"
-- Backstage