DIANE HILL

Review: Diane Hill, who is masterful in any role, is delightful as the curmudgeonly Frances – a woman who sees the world as it is and relies on whiskey to blur that view as needed.

Rvw: Diane Hill as Gordon’s neurotic mother, Mimi, has two numbers that sizzle. The first, “Mother’s Gonna Make Things Fine,” is Mimi’s initial reaction to her son’s hospitalization. But with the realization that Gordon’s surgery could be fatal – and outside her ability to fix – she decides to head over to Gordon’s apartment and clean. It’s a heart-wrenching performance, as Mimi’s emotions bubble up and explode – and it serves as a reminder of just what a kick-ass actress Hill is in such roles.

"Diane Hill’s nutty delivery of [a] game-changing speech is the highpoint of this show." Review: encoremichigan

Diane Hill...performs two of Follies’ funniest songs, “Could I Leave You” and “Lucy and Jessie” with spot-on comic timing. Review: encoremichigan

Diane Hill is equal parts hysterically funny and touching as de Gouges, who dreams of the glory of being a writer on the front lines of the Revolution, documenting the fight for freedom, but can’t work up the courage to actually be on the front lines. Review: Pulp Arts

Hill is fierce, but she also has a way with a witty line and distressed look. She’s especially funny as she contemplates her son’s suggestion that maybe he could go to community college. Review: Pulp Arts

Hill embodies the suffering of Diana with haunting depth and realism. Glassy-eyed one moment, high-energy the next and fearful another, the svelte actress takes the audience from soaring heights to plummeting lows that characterize manic depression. Voice dripping with emotion, she mesmerizes from beginning to end. Review: Oakland Press

Wilde Award for Best Actress

The greatest challenge for Hill and Alpern is that of dropping in on a character every five years, a feat that requires both extreme change and believable continuity. The performers are up to the challenge, as Hill’s Doris gains self-esteem hand over fist and devours new knowledge and experiences, and Alpern’s George retreats into cool reserve, a clipped stuffed shirt that has little basis in his younger self. Review: Rogue Critic