Reviews from other productions of Coming Attractions:

From Backstage West:

Ted Tally shot an arrow into the air in 1982 and 20 years later scores a bull's-eye with his savage little satire. How could Tally know his devastatingly funny indictment of society's obsession with celebrity at any price and humanity's propensity for violence at any cost would be more apt now than before? Credit Tally's sensitivity to the zeitgeist. Revel in the style. Weep for the substance.

Lonnie and Manny tell the tale of Faust and Mephisto all over again. Lonnie Wayne Burke terrifies a covey of cowering hostages while waving a gun and threatening to "blow 'em all away if I don't get my life story on 60 Minutes!" Here comes seedy showbiz agent Manny, offering Lonnie celebrity in exchange for you-know-what. He doesn't put it that way, probably doesn't realize he's the devil, but we're on to Manny. As the "Halloween Killer" in a skeleton suit, Lonnie is rewarded with stardom, is lionized on TV, and weds his dream girl, Miss America--who else?

A dazzling, chilling finale "live from Death Row" ends it with Lonnie in the hot seat, while a singing, dancing, celebrating chorus in rainbow-hued sequin jackets break the black-and-white color code, jazz it up, and stir echoes of Cabaret, Chicago, and Hieronymus Bosch. (Reviewed by Polly Warfield)

From The Los Angeles Times:

Manny Alter may not be the world's most successful talent agent, but he knows potential when he sees it, and he currently sees it in the novice gunman who's locked in a hostage standoff with police. Manny figures that if he invents a creepy new image for the young thug and sends him out to get a few murders under his belt, the kid could be a star.

The scary thing about this grim little scenario, as envisioned in Ted Tally's early '80s satire "Coming Attractions," is that it's awfully close to the truth. In a stylish revival by Theatre Neo, it tickles some chilling laughs out of the American tendency to treat criminals as celebrities.

As Manny coaches his client to top billing in news reports and orchestrates a fiendish appearance at that Miss America pageant, Manny and the fresh-faced killer Lonnie Wayne Burke, reveal some surprising vulnerabilities. This helps to keep audience members engaged--even a little empathetic--rather than just disgusted. (Reviewed by Daryl H. Miller)

From LA Weekly:

Ted Tally's outlandish 1982 musical farce, with music and lyrics by Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman, takes dead aim at corporate media, an all-too-gullible public and a turnstile court system. And this superb production hits those targets with caustic glee. In a society that fashions celebrities out of serial killers, stock-market swindlers and Mafia hit men, Lonnie Wayne Burke, like any red-blooded American sociopath, wants his place in the sun - and his picture in People. But when his bungling criminal endeavors elicit no network notice, a parasitic agent, aptly named Manny Alter, convinces the dim-bulb Lonnie to transform his modus operandi, adopt a catchy name and costume, and try his hand at mass murder - a sure bet to lucrative book deals, commercial endorsements and TV miniseries. While some bits seem outdated (one concerning an Arab "terrorist" smacks of racism), Tally's critique is, like the movie Network, highly prophetic, darkly comedic and very unsettling. (Reviewed by Martín Hernández)