Hedy Weiss of Chicago Sun-Times writes:
"The show is a smart, incisive, 90-minute collage of songs about the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Middle East — drawn from both the Broadway and pop music songbooks, and deftly interspersed with brief interludes of prose and poetry from writers spanning the 11th to the late 20th centuries."
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Kerry Reid of Chicago Tribune writes:
"This is the rare cabaret evening that allows you to both enjoy and examine the cultural assumptions underpinning some well-loved songs — and the prose sections in "Re-Spiced" may send you on a mission to add some intriguing new flavors to your reading list."
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Katy Walsh of ChicagoNOW writes:
"The entire show is one big melting pot of international experiences. The cast are this hearty stew of personalities and capabilities. It’s a tasty and substantial treat."
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Kris Vire of Time Out Chicago writes:
"Creator Khoury, dramaturg Neal Ryan Shaw and director Steve Scott draw a compelling through line of the West’s long history of alternately fetishizing and fearing those “unimagined lands.” A winning cast of eight ably sells both that story and Ryan Brewster’s accomplished arrangements."
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Brian Hieggelke of Newcity writes:
"Woven into a clever and entertaining pastiche of songs, many focused on the “exoticness” of the East, are text excerpts drawn from the Western canon, the likes of Walt Whitman, Edith Wharton and Friedrich Nietzsche that punctuate or counterpoint the verses."
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Jack Helbig of Chicago Reader writes:
"The mix of contemporary and classic tunes alone makes this cabaret worth seeing. But Re-Spiced is smarter than your average evening of great music because Jamil Khoury has wittily turned his playlist into a 90-minute meditation on the myriad ways in which the West gets the East wrong."
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David Zak of Chicago Stage Style writes:
"There is a lot to like and learn from Re-Spiced, Silk Road Rising's new cabaret that lets us listen and laugh, reflecting on how far we have come, and how far there is yet to go."
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Rory Leahy of Centerstage writes:
"Re-Spiced is a rare and admirable production that perfectly combines thought provoking content with an overwhelming sensibility of lighthearted fun."
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Catey Sullivan of Chicago Theater Beat writes:
"This is first and foremost cabaret, intended to entertain as opposed to enlighten. That it manages to also accomplish the latter is a testament to Khoury’s eye for creating a musical collage as well as the cast’s collective musical skills and director Steve Scott’s astute navigation of the tricky borderlands between comedy and tragedy."
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Ruth Smerling of Theatreworld Internet Magazine writes:
"Re-Spiced devised by the innovative and bold Jamil Khoury is fun, uplifting and ripe with the hope, promise and energy delivered by a boundless youthful cast. Re-Spiced is a great show for the whole family."
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Minita Gandhi of Chicago Theatre Minority Report writes:
"This production is sharp, touching, and fun. It’s Ice Cube, Joan Baez, and Rodgers and Hammerstein. It’s cabaret with a conscience. It demands an audience as eclectic as its tightknit ensemble and vivid message."
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Bob Bullen of Chicago Theatre Addict writes:
"Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret isn’t your mother’s cabaret. It’s bold, colorful, eclectic, relevant and shockingly subversive. I’ve seen a lot of cabaret in my time, but nothing quite like the experience I had last night."
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