Critic’s Choice! "Amid the ongoing culture wars between urban-elite and blue-collar sensibilities, Melocchi’s period play slyly reminds us the division can be bridged by our fundamental human need to create. In the process we can become something more than what our circumstances have shaped us to be." – Philip Brandes, The Los Angeles Times
"..an appropriate play that should touch the heartstrings of Pittsburgh audiences."
."..and now that Andy Warhol’s Tomato is at last being performed in its hometown, it should be feeling the warm glow of a yinzer embrace." - Pittsburgh OwlScribe
“Melocchi’s writing is funny… touching…an enjoyable look at a lesser-known period of Warhol’s life.” – Terry Morgan, Stage Raw
“The skill of Melocchi’s writing is matched by the remarkable acting work by Stevenson and Chariton…they breathe life into every line of Melocchi’s text, creating flesh-and-blood characters that hold you in thrall from start to finish.” – Willard Manus, Total Theatre
"Something akin to Peter Shaffer’s… totally fictionalized play around the little information he had to relieve the cacophony in his mind. The result was Equus. Vince Melocchi’s new play has to say about the human condition… is what makes it so compelling.” – Travis Michael Holder, Ticketholders L.A
“Melocchi sprinkles enough known facts of Warhol’s life to make you wonder, really wonder, if you’re watching a non-fiction depiction rather than the well-constructed story Melocchi made up. 80 minutes… just the perfect time to spend with two well-written, well-directed, well-acted characters that keep you transfixed by their quirky, but incredible relationship. Your heartstrings will be pulled.” – Gil Kaan, Broadway World Los Angeles
“A well-written script…Andy Warhol's Tomato has taken a cute and certainly untrue story from Andy Warhol’s early life and turned it into a play with a profound and timeless message for all. – Eliane Mura, L.A Splash Magazine
“If you didn’t know this was fiction, you’d think you were watching Andy’s origin story… dialogue is genuine… the play succeeds on every level. I highly recommend you see this small gem.” – Sarah A. Spitz, Santa Monica Daily Press
“…Melocchi’s play is a smart, humanistic…observation of working-class survivalism.”
"Lions is about hope…about the endurance of a middle class getting squeezed…finding life amid the lifeless.” – Detroit Free Press
“An all-around touching portrait of Middle America, a reminder that ‘real Americans’ need not be so reductively characterized as Joe the Plumber.” – L.A. Weekly
“In Vince Melocchi’s play, Lions, we are privy to the hardships of a group of downtrodden men and women who are faced with the economic sufferings of today’s world.” – Stagehappenings
“Precisely drawn and movingly dramatized. Vince Melocchi creates immediacy and intimacy. What appears to be a simple story embraces the larger concept of crossing chasms…This is a satisfying evening of solid theater.” – Playing Around- N.Y
Critic’s pick! "Melocchi’s new play, sensitively directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, is eloquently understated and gracefully melancholic, subtly packing an emotional punch. Melocchi’s script offers a resonant depiction of small-town life, illuminating crushing disappointments experienced by ordinary people.” Les Spindle – Backstage
“GO! Melocchi’s writing is deceptively top-heavy with conversations that at first appear pointless but gradually coalesce to construct the psychological underpinnings of strikingly plausible blue-collar characters.” Paul Birchall, L.A. Weekly
“The play has the low-key feel of real life — just regular people making up their lives as they go along. This small, sweet play really lives. ” - Charlotte Stoudt, Los Angeles Times
“RECOMMENDED! Melocchi has written a wonderful touching play with marvelous characters, each once created perfectly.” – Stagehappenings
“Julia is surprising, tense, funny, sweet and redemptive. Melocchi approaches his characters pathos with a comic poignancy; this allows the subject matter to resonate long after we have left the theatre.” – Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema
“The unconscious sensitivity of Melocchi’s precise text…never leaves the audience in any doubt that a great memory drama is being created.” – Madeleine Shaner, Beverly Press
” See Julia and/or any other play Vince Melocchi writes.” – Suzy Williams, The Beachhead
Read an interview with Vince Melocchi by That Awesome Theatre Blog
“This play packs a one-two punch that comes out of nowhere leaving the audience gasping for breath and wondering what else can happen. Part of the intrigue is the back story - YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS PRODUCTION.” – Jose Ruiz, Review Plays
“I should tell you that I really liked Nice Things, which seemed exemplary of what theater needs to be, and not so much about what it doesn’t. Good to be witness to a show that exists so much in its moments and needn’t necessarily have any life outside of that to validate itself.” – Myron Meisel, L.A Drama Critics Circle
"Nice Things has a powerful and lasting message that left me deep in thought as I pondered the burning question, is our military really on a volunteer basis? Is war worth the price?" – Rose Desena, Los Angeles Post
“Nice has something to say. Melocchi really excels with the driving action of this play…gripping. It has something rather important to say.” – Patrick Hurley, That awesome theatre blog!
“Melocchi doesn’t go that route. He digs deep and gives us a complex character… makes a strong case for the rest of us not to forget these people, especially those who gave their lives for our freedom and well-being. The play does all it can to remember and honor them.” – Willard Manus, Totaltheatre.com
