I'm going to quote a good portion of the The Chicago Sun-Times review:
House turns the 'Hatfield' feud into an engaging musical
Hedy Weiss
September 18, 2006
Production: Hatfield & McCoy
With a nod to the Old Testament and Shakespeare, an ear for bluegrass and rockabilly, a stylish way with clog dancing and moonshine swilling, and an endlessly inventive approach to shootin, stabbin' and other techniques for the mutilatin' and killin' of kin, the House Theatre of Chicago has devised a darn near irresistible new musical drama. It's called "Hatfield & McCoy," and it is based, of course, on the story of the many generations of feuding clans from Kentucky and West Virginia who existed in history, but were transformed by myth to become the closest thing America has to the Montagues and Capulets. These two pioneer families (who were sometimes more than kissing cousins), embodied the most uncivil aspects of civil war. And as is the case in most such wars, the combatants were far more alike than they were different. With a smart, tragicomic book (that could use some trimming), and a slew of rousing, beautifully integrated songs, all the work of company member Shawn Pfautsch, plus superb musical direction by Kevin O'Donnell, unusually strong overall direction (and ingeniously brutal fight choreography) by Matthew Hawkins, and a cast of nearly two dozen actors who often double as first-rate instrumentalists -- the show is by far the most mature and emotionally compelling work this company has produced in some time. Eschewing much of the pop cartoonishness that sometimes undermines its shows (but retaining just enough to offer comic relief), this House production displays the troupe's always impressive ensemble spirit. And the company's boundless energy, imagination and sense of play -- as well as its impassioned quest for some moral grounding -- makes "Hatfield & McCoy" richer. As with many such massive feuds, just what set this one in motion gets lost in a haze of charges and countercharges. But with the moonshine industry and the pig farming, the proliferation of grudges and guns, and the fierce belief in Bible-sanctioned eye-for-an-eye justice, the chaos rarely abates -- at least, that is, until any further slaughter becomes meaningless. Pfautsch has framed his story with a little help (and some verse) from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," with the linchpin for the action the marriage of youthful lovers from the opposing families -- Rose Anna McCoy (Sara Hoyer, a silver-voiced little charmer) and Johnson "Johnse" Hatfield (Erik Hellman as a most engaging pretty boy). Rose Anna is the smart, theatrically minded daughter of Randolph "Ol Ranl" McCoy (quietly haunting work by Kurt Ehrman), a strict man who believes the Bible is far better for his many children than the modern-minded plays his daughter devises and performs (in the manner of Chekhov's Nina, in "The Seagull"). Randolph is married to the upright and courageous Sarah (Stacy Stoltz, outstanding as the mother who pleads for her sons' lives). Johnson is the cute if not overly bright son of Capt. William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield (a red-bearded Nathan Allen in top form). The Captain, a larger-than-life charismatic preacher, is married to the equally formidable Levicy (show-stopping work by Marika Mashburn), a woman who likes, and needs, her whiskey. Pfautsch's songs are woven into the story with great finesse so that they emerge completely naturally. Mashburn is terrific in her bravura liquor-oiled number. That "O Brother Where Art Thou?" sound is alive and well here. And the script has its own quirky music, as when a mother sees a melee coming and warns: "I don't wanna be pickin' my good silver out of the elm tree this time!" The black humor grows downright tragic by the end, as the truce between the families suggests an exhaustion that might (or might not) endure.
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