The Servant of Two Masters, Theater for a New Audience (2016)
“★★★★ The Servant of Two Masters serves a tasty platter of commedia dell’arte.
A hilariously babyish Eugene Ma.”
“Eugene Ma, whose boyishness grows on you.
A campy, happy romp, just perfect for a New York City beset with dread.
This is a production that should move to Broadway. It is, by far, the most entertaining show in New York City and deserves to be seen.”
“A fearlessly funny Eugene Ma.
Laughter is the best medicine sometimes. This is one of those times.”
“Theatre for a New Audience has on its hands its best production in years with The Servant of Two Masters, a much-welcomed commedia salve for the trauma of November 8. The entire cast is terrific.
Eugene Ma, playing Silvio, an airheaded lover caught up in Beatrice’s cross-dressing schemes, shuffles on and off the stage with the blinking gape of a lost cow.”
Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2015)
“There are some fine performances here. Eugene Ma is fabulous as the earnest, cuckolded fisherman Tao, whose comic travails make up much of the Peach Blossom tale. ”
“Eugene Ma as the enraged, befuddled fisherman is simply hilarious and an extremely gifted physical presence. ”
“Now we come to the hilarious performances of the comical farce, Peach Blossom Land. Eugene Ma is delightful as the cuckolded fisherman, Tao, and steals the show with sidesplitting performances.”
photo: Jenny Graham
“The male lead of the other play-within-a-play strand is Eugene Ma, playing Tao (and also playing an actor who’s a bit of a diva). Ma’s slapstick is precise and coordinated beautifully.”
“The Chinese fable, “Peach Blossom Land,” recounts the tale of a fisherman (Eugene Ma) who finds an ethereal — if slightly ridiculous — perfect world when he flees his cuckolding wife. This is broad physical comedy, exquisitely timed to the rhythms of Chinese percussion, owing as much to the precise choreography of Italian Commedia dell’Arte as to the pratfalls of The Three Stooges. The intricacies of Chinese comic opera are as accessible as the Marx Brothers.”
“Strikes a seemingly magical balance, interweaving the two very different stories with behind-the-scenes mayhem in a way that should be a train wreck, yet somehow hangs together beautifully.”
Guys and Dolls, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2015)
photo: Jenny Graham
“There are a couple of pleasing cameos, including Eugene Ma as the wary landlord who won’t take Nathan’s marker. ”
“A perfect staging of this perfect musical.”
“I doubt I’ll ever see a better production of this joyful New York fable... The entire show is non-stop fun and every actor is a delight.”
“Finding a version of Frank Loesser’s eternal hit better than Mary Zimmerman’s super saturated, pinstriped, technicolor, slicked back, dolled up and doubled down freight train of pure joy now on at OSF may prove harder than locating a free space for Nathan Detroit’s floating crap game.”
Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Berkeley Repertory Theater (2014)
“This take on The Accidental Death of an Anarchist is as breezy, uproarious, and meaningful as a political satire can be. David Mamet, take a lesson.”
“Eugene Ma absolutely steals the show as a pair of virtually identical constables, gaping and whimpering like a toddler. Pretty much every time he does anything, it’s hysterical. ”
“This madcap romp demands both virtuosic comic chops and a sense of fearlessness...
particularly Allen Gilmore as the demented inspector Pissani and Eugene Ma as a befuddled constable. Both actors also bravely toy with racial stereotypes to tickle the funny bone.”
“...fine support from Eugene Ma as a pair of constables, identical except for their mustaches, right down to an amazing countertenor voice. ”
“...Eugene Ma, brilliantly playing two Constables at once and seemingly embodying Oliver Hardy. ”
“Eugene Ma is brilliant as two identically childlike Constables with angelic falsettos.”
photo: Joan Marcus
“Still, it’s the cast that sells it. Epp’s Maniac gets excellent support from Eugene Ma’s high-voiced, slack-jawed Constables.”
Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Yale Repertory Theatre (2013)
“Eugene Ma’s Constables should get a permanent gig in some comedy troupe somewhere.”
“Mr. Ma plays the Constables with a stunned response to the others’ actions that never gets old.
Bayes’ production stays lofty in its pursuit and delivery of demonstrative comedic genius.
The five male actors in this production work as an ensemble that fabulously plays off of and with each other’s contributions, as well as the audience’s involvement. Their timing is impeccable, as well as their control.”
“... adorably inane underling, Eugene Ma’s Constables...”
“To equal the frantic physical-comedy standard set by the sweet-voiced Eugene Ma (as a couple of constables) is no mean feat.”
“Christopher Bayes, Steven Epp, and an adept band of lunatic players nail the needed anarchy... Eugene Ma embodies big-weakling-sidekick bit that’s been surefire from Shakespeare through Moliere through Hogan’s Heroes’ Sergeant Schultz.”
“Eugene Ma looks like he stepped out of a Fellini film. With seasoned artists who know how to shape Italian commedia dell’arte for contemporary times — the work is wild, hysterical and pointed. The Marx Brothers would definitely approve...
What elevates the proceedings is the non-stop, fourth-wall-breaking comic inventiveness by director Christopher Bayes and his terrific troupe of crazies. ”
“Eugene Ma plays two constables, one on the ground floor of police headquarters and one on the fourth floor, who look and act practically identically, save for a pasted on mustache.
He portrays the stooge in each situation quite humorously and enjoyably.”
The Servant of Two Masters, Seattle Repertory Theatre (2013)
“Pure stage magic... Adina Verson and Eugene Ma as the childlike lovers Clarice and Silvio deliver laugh-out-loud, soap opera-level intensity.”
“I could go on for days about this amazing ensemble, including stunning bits from Ma.
So you know when you go to a show and there’s that one actor on stage who is so good, so funny, that the show and the other actors just kind of revolve around them like some theatrical sun warming all in its orbit? OK, now imagine an entire stage filled with that actor and you’ll have the Seattle Rep’s current production of “The Servant of Two Masters” which kicks off their 51st season not with a bang but with a hearty belly laugh that lasts for two and a half hours. The cast is from the comedy gods.”
The Man Who Laughs, Urban Stages (2013)
“The Man Who Laughs, from The Stolen Chair Theatre Company, transforms frowsy Urban Stages into an old-fashioned silent-movie theater, complete with sumptuous piano accompaniment by composer Eugene Ma.”
“Poignant music accompaniment by Eugene Ma adds to the illusion.”
“Eugene Ma’s turn at the ivories at the foot of the stage is as finely tuned and athletic as each performer’s movements and, just like his castmates, hits Every. Single. Mark. ”
“From the beautiful piano score that illuminates every emotion that crosses an actor’s face, written and performed by Eugene Ma, to the constant clacking of the movie projector coming from the back of the house, the experience of being in an old movie house is complete.”
“They are supported by evocative live piano music, skillfully improvised by Eugene Ma.”
“Music (and, I assume accompaniment) by Eugene Ma is splendid. It integrates seamlessly into the drama illuminating but never distracting.”
“Eugene Ma accompanies the action on the piano (he also composed the score) brilliantly. The result is a more visceral, more human silent film experience that does for physical theatre what the recent remake of ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ did for physical storytelling on film.”
“It’s an amazing concept — a totally pantomimed story, with short descriptive blurbs periodically projected onto a back screen — performed to a riveting original piano score played by composer Eugene Ma.”