Mike Fischer at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel saw 10 shows and has ranked them, less as a reductive prescription than as an invitation to conversation.
1) Macbeth: “one’s deepest and darkest thoughts emerge into what little light there ever is; watching this world unfold, one feels an unsettling, primeval connection to characters who are both a millennium old (this production is set in eleventh-century Scotland) and a reflection of ourselves and our neighbors.”
2) All My Sons: “…marvel anew at how much his play still has to say to us and the way we live now…”
3) A Chorus Line: from the tryout at the top of the show to the symbolic, outward facing circle the ensemble creates near journey’s end, we’re reminded that “love’s what we’ll remember.”
4) Bunny: ” I’m not pulling punches when predicting a rousing success for this darkly funny and also wrenching account of a woman (beautifully played by Maev Beaty) in her late thirties, looking back on a lonely life in which her need to be needed results in numerous sexual relationships.”

The New York Times Charles Isherwood notes Stratford’s unique quality as “a town where actors can afford to live and raise children.”
Isherwood includes brief notes about a few shows, including:
“All My Sons” – Superlative
“Shakespeare in Love” – an ebullient crowd-pleaser
“Macbeth” -Ian Lake giving a galvanizing performance as an unusually young and sexually magnetic Macbeth.
“Night Music” was not a great production, unfortunately, but Cynthia Dale — a veteran of 13 seasons at Stratford — was marvelous in the smallish role of Charlotte.

I have to rave about the spectacular cast. Everyone gives top-notch performances, and I truly mean everyone. Humphrey’s Will is endearing, passionate and raw in his struggle to find his voice and his true love. McCamus as Fennyman, Ouimette as Henslowe and Steve Ross as Burbage give strong performances as the shady businessmen behind London’s burgeoning theatre companies…I thoroughly enjoyed this production and highly recommend you go see this heart-warming show before its run ends.

In his review of both “Shakespeare In Love” and “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” what Cushman calls “the populist wing of the festival,” he notes: Some of the individual performances are delightful: Tom McCamus as the stage-struck moneylender Fennyman, transformed from tyrant to acolyte at the offer of a walk-on role, and Stephen Ouimette as the manager Philip Henslowe, who historically was a loan-shark, but who figures here as an anxious and committed impresario, confident that the show not only must but will go on….Donnellan’s production is great fun and moves with speed and purpose. Ormerod’s set is cunning and versatile, a theatre within a theatre.

There’s no question this high-octane Shakespeare in Love, which continues though October 16, will put bums in seats. Moreover the North American premiere succeeds in no small part because of the quality of the festival’s acting company…Beyond the actors, however, it’s difficult to determine where the festival’s influence on Lee Hall’s stage adaptation begins and where the influence of Disney Theatre Productions ends…Transporting the production from London’s West End to Stratford results in a generic package. It would have been interesting to see what a director on intimate terms with the festival might have done to put a more personal stamp on Shakespeare in Love.

In her “short” review of both The Lion, the “Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Shakespeare In Love” Slotkin notes: “Declan Donnellan has directed a quick, almost breathless paced production, with wit, wonderful detail and the most wonderful realization of the two lovers of Shakespeare (Luke Humphrey) and Viola (Shannon Taylor).”

Part of what makes this production so magical is the fantastic company that has been assembled. Tom McCamus is hilarious as Fennyman the financier for the play who, maybe has just a little bit of a desire to be an actor; Steve Ross and Stephen Ouimette also get lots of laughs as theatre owners,..Some newcomers to the Festival also leave quite the impression on this production. Both Thomas Mitchell Barnet and Tal Shulman are fantastic as young men auditioning for women’s parts.

The mystery of the theatre, and of all art, is that fiction and artifice can uncover the truth. In “Shakespeare in Love,” Queen Elizabeth I sets a wager, “Can a play show us the very truth and nature of love?” After seeing Romeo and Juliet, she has to admit that a play can. After seeing Shakespeare in Love, we, too, have to agree it is doubly true….Shakespeare in Love contains large swaths of Romeo and Juliet, and, as enacted by Humphrey and Taylor under Donnellan’s direction, these excerpts are so engaging and so moving that they outshine the full-scale Shakespeares currently playing at the Festival.

Two important narrative items are much better handled on stage than in front of the camera. Shakespeare’s proclivity to go both ways is much more than a brief crotch grab instead puckering up with a beard to succinctly demonstrate to Viola (a.k.a. mustachioed Romeo in the play within the play) just how to render a full-on kiss to someone who also shaves—wearing a dress or not. And the pivotal role of Christopher Marlowe (Saamer Usmani positively nails the part) is wisely given much more “screen” time than the uncredited Rupert Everett in the film.

Directed with verve by Donnellan, whose Cheek and Jowl theatre company originally brought Shakespeare in Love to the West End stage, the Stratford production is bolstered by a superb ensemble and star-making turns by the two leads – Humphrey and a revelatory Shannon Taylor, who shines in the role of Viola.

The cast (more than 20 of them if you count the dog) does a fine job of keeping plot and dialogue crisp, funny and flowing, with much scene-chewing from the entire cast; this is perfectly appropriate in a romantic play which at times approaches farce (Michael Frayn’s Noises Off! comes to mind). It is hard to say which actor pulls off the over-acting the best, although arguably Tom McCamus has the best lines as Fennyman, and Sarah Orenstein the largest presence as Queen Elizabeth.

Anyone who loves the Bard of Avon will be well-rewarded with lines from many of the great man’s comedies and tragedies, at times hopelessly jumbled together…Stephen Ouimette is superb as Henslowe, upstaging everyone at every turn. Saamer Usmani is a handsome Kit Marlowe, Karen Robinson a naughty nurse, Sarah Orenstein an imposing Elizabeth, Mike Nadajewski a cut-up of a boat’s man and Tom McManus a stand-in for every money-grubber theatre-lover who was pleased to put on a funny hat to be in a show.