“Monette Magrath is wondrous as Helen... She makes you believe there are pockets of hope in this hopeless world. Which is to say, she makes you believe in the magic of theater.”
“But Helen is the heart and soul of the play, and Magrath is absolutely luminous in the role (which is very similar to the role she played in STNJ’s ‘The Rainmaker,’ in 2019). And her bittersweet final speech, which coincides with the end of the war, contradicts Andie’s ‘passing the time’ philosophy.”
“And A Nightingale Sang… has a cast that captures every richly textured moment of the play. Monette Magrath is superb in the role of the older daughter, Helen Stott who also rounds out the story with a thoughtful narration. ”
“When romance in the form of Norman comes into her life, she downplays his advances to shield herself from expected disappointment. Yet to see Magrath’s face change as it slowly dawns on Helen that she is in fact lovely and love-worthy is subtle and touching artistry. Helen learns that making her own happiness independent of her family is important and that being unashamedly true to her feelings carries its own imperatives and weight.”
“It is one of the many nervous smiles in C.P. Taylor’s funny, dramatic, powerful and heart breaking play, And A Nightingale Sang...
She gets superb work from a group of highly skilled actors. None is better than the other. They are Monette McGrath as Helen, Marion Adler as Peggy, Benjamin Eakely as Norman, Sarah Deaver as Joyce, Christian Frost as soldier Eric, John Little as George, and Sam Tsoutsouvas as the elderly friend.
Together, these performers tell us the story of a family, but in a small way, the story of the family of the British people in wartime.”