Official website of multi-hyphenate, award-winning Canadian creator with over 30 years' experience in the Canadian film and television industry
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acting reviews

 
 

Revoir Julie

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"Lead thesps Dominique Leduc and Stephanie Morgenstern both shine, helping make this a memorable indie debut… Both actresses display a refreshing naturalnessMorgenstern's Juliet is talky and brimming with sunny flair….” — Variety

★★★★  "This unpretentious little film about two young women renewing their friendship might well be the best Quebec pic of the year… A genuine sleeper, exploring the theme of suppressed desire in a totally original way. Both actresses, and particularly Morgenstern, are superlative." — Hour Magazine

“…a two-hander of talented, clear-eyed actors Stephanie Morgenstern and Dominique Leduc, chronicling the reunion of two women of divergent beauty — one English, one French, one fair, one dark… This Montrealer's fine first feature is a tiny revelation.” — The Montreal Gazette

"The film compels, stuns and seduces… With a fragile vulnerability, Stephanie Morgenstern is an understated Juliet, consumed from within by the flames of a passion too long contained…" — 24 Images

★★★★  "Exquisite… A wonderful exercise in observation, timing and layering.  Basically a two-hander, its stars — the delightful and sparklingly forthright Stephanie Morgenstern and the quirky, warm and off-beat Dominique Leduc — were made for the roles of Juliet and Julie.” — The Rainbow Network

"With great understatement, this film allows the unspoken to collide with images from the past… Revoir Julie is above all a very beautiful film — not without humour, and occasionally mischievous — about desire, its containment, and its blossoming."  — Ici

A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Stratford Festival

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"In the 400 or so years since it was written, there have been thousands of productions of Shakespeare's comedy of magic and star-crossed love, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and there will doubtless be many more.  But it's unlikely any of them will better Irish director Joe Dowling's… it snaps, crackles and pops from beginning to end... Never have the four star-crossed, fairy-bedevilled lovers seemed more than an occasionally amusing and often confusing side-show to the rude mechanicals' humorous amateur theatrics and the enchantment of the fairy kingdom. In Dowling's production, I couldn't wait for the lovers to be back on stage." — Globe and Mail

★★★★  "This is a 'Dream' worthy of comparison to Peter Brooks' 1960 triumph! Exciting, explosive, enjoyable and innovative… Sheila McCarthy's Helena and Stephanie Morgenstern's Hermia literally explode with energy during their ‘catfight'."  — Montage Magazine

"In person, as on stage, there is a bright glow that radiates from actress Stephanie Morgenstern, immediately commanding a person's attention… She transforms Hermia from a gentle, giddy lover to a kickboxing woman scorned without missing a beat." — The Sherbrooke Record

"…Libidos thus liberated, these couples are as much fun to watch as the 'rude mechanicals' — especially a waifish Helena (Sheila McCarthy) and a karate-chopping Hermia (Stephanie Morgenstern)." — Plays and Players

 

Additional Reviews — Stage and Film

★★★★ “…Morgenstern shines as Croze’s supportive friend.  Her work in Maelstrom and The Sweet Hereafter make a case for this perpetual supporting actor to get a film of her own.” — NOW Magazine, Maelstrom.

"Superb performances… Stephanie Morgenstern is a charming presence… Her Juliet is a romantic sprite — passionate and spiritual, but tempered by a keen intelligence."  — Regina Leader Post, Romeo and Juliet, Globe Theatre

"The best piece is 'Twirler,' featuring a young baton mistress for whom the art of flinging that silver sword through the air is her way of communing with God.  Stephanie Morgenstern is excellent in the role… The monologue's power lies in the performer's ability to make us feel her belief.  Morgenstern succeeds splendidly." — The Montreal Gazette, Talking With..., Street People Theatre

★★★★  “…Characters who walk — not always carefully  — along the edge of a razor blade.  Full of nuance and subtext, expertly mined by the actors… Morgenstern and Zeppieri perform an erotic and dangerous mating dance, [in] a sizzle of anger and sexuality."  — NOW Magazine, The River Lady, Summerworks

Morgenstern is a young transient who collects marbles from ever town she visits and longs for a life as comforting as Kmart… The two outcasts are sharply defined by strong performers… Widdicombe keeps us guessing as to where this drama will end right to one final, silent love scene, handled with great skill by the actors and magnificently directed by Albert Schultz.” — Globe and Mail, The River Lady, Summerworks.

"Vivid, naturalistic performances.  Gilbert and Morgenstern make a wonderful pair — he all self-satisfied puffery, she all innocent earnestness… A fine and subtle piece of acting on both parts."  — The Globe and Mail, L'Ecole des Femmes, Théâtre Français de Toronto

Stage and screen actor Stephanie Morgenstern... fills the screen with a grounded elegance... Morgenstern demonstrates an awful lot of talent with these two projects, and she stands out as an up-and-coming actor/writer/director.” — Now Magazine, Why I'll Never Trust You and Curtains

★★★★  “The strong cast knows when to be subtle — Stephanie Morgenstern plays Angélique's firm but reluctant defiance of her father with restraint — and when to revel in lively physical clowning.”   NOW Magazine, Le Malade Imaginaire, Theatre Français de Toronto

"Glittering work… Morgenstern played Laura to near-perfection as a creature as delicate as the glass creations in her collection.  Utterly convincing — and heart-rending."  — Regina Leader Post, The Glass Menagerie, Globe Theatre

"Morgenstern brings a composed sense of fury and humiliation to the part… executed with all the passion and pain fitting for a female character who lives in the reality of sexist 1950s England." — The McGill Daily, Look Back in Anger, Centaur Theatre

Stephanie Morgenstern is chilling and the prematurely sophisticated daughter who calculates the impact of her father's death on her own life before she sheds a tear." — Montreal Gazette, Vassa, Centaur Theatre

"A lively affirmation of the transcendent and transformative power of the theatre… the cast attacks the piece with youthful vigour: Stephanie Morgenstern as the dutiful and idealistic Isabelle…"  — Toronto Star, The Illusion, Stratford Festival

"The film chronicles the life of a stage actor, brilliantly played by Stephanie herself.” — Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto Magazine, Curtains

The play revolves around two women, Maria Wait (played by Stephanie Morgenstern) and Sarah Chandler (Deborah Drakeford), both of whom have loved ones jailed for their part in the rebellion… When the two female leads battle their wills, the audience is transfixed, able to hear a pin drop on stage, waiting to see who gives in first.” — Yankee Notions, Blyth Festival.