Shepherd Express: Sanders Family is “truly a homespun hit for the holidays.”

November 20, 2018

“A countrified gospel mix of recognizable hymns, secular favorites and good ol’ fashioned Southern charm…Connie Ray’s writing gets across the serious moments interspersed with plenty of humor. Witness the comical, rapid-fire competition between the determined Vera [Elaine Wyler] and the sweet, bumbling pastor Mervin Oglethorpe (a perfectly cast David Duncan III) as they each try to outdo one another, hurling verse after verse…each of the Sanders family members take their turns, and the most riveting scene in this two-hour production…is watching Sapiro tell his story of being drafted and going to fight “over there.” He reenacts his military encounters with such a seductive intensity…And then there’s all that music! Thirty songs total, with the cast performing on all manner of instruments, banjo to washboard. [It’s] truly a homespun hit for the holidays.”