Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - MTW

Around The Town - "Tommy Thurston does a showstopping Elvis-like Pharaoh..."
​- Alan Bresloff

Chicago Theatre Review - "...dashing Tommy Thurston rocks the stage as a swivel-hipped, bouffant-haired Elvis Presley-like Pharaoh. Mr. Thurston brings humor and powerful vocals to the Egyptian monarch who eventually gives Joseph an opportunity for success." - Colin Douglas

Chicago Theater and Arts - "Tommy Thurston’s Elvis imitation as the Pharaoh is a crowd pleaser..." - Reno Lovison

Big Fish - BoHo Theatre

Windy City Times - "That leaves us with Tommy Thurston and Jeff Pierpoint, both astoundingly captivating in their roles as father and son. Pierpoint is so affable and genuine as Will Bloom, it's hard not to see reason in his impassioned pleas to his father. As Edward Bloom, Tommy Thurston can smooth talk you into nearly anything. Thurston balances on the razor's edge between wholesome and shifty, selfish and selfless. These performers are reason enough to get your rod and tackle." - Sean Margaret Wagner

Around The Town Chicago - "...He is, in many ways, uncomfortable with his father, Edward Bloom ( played to perfection by Tommy Thurston)." - Alan Bresloff

NewCity Chicago - "One of the many strengths of this production is the interplay between Edward (Tommy Thurston) and his straitlaced son (Jeff Pierpoint). Both actors do a fine job of navigating the emotional terrain of a strained familial relationship. Their vocal talents complement truly beautiful work done by the onstage six-piece orchestra."
​- Noel Schecter 

Chicagoland Musical Theatre - "With the stamina of a freight train, Tommy Thurston leads this production with intense exuberance as Edward Bloom. Thurston’s dynamic performance pairs captivating nuance with spellbinding animation, deftly jumping from an ambitious youth to a dying father. The resonant warble of Thurston’s voice is sonorous, and a certain smokiness in his timbre creates an air of stylized folk; as a result, Edward Bloom’s storied imagination is embodied within the very core of Thurston’s vocal mechanism." - Quinn Rigg

Chicago On Stage - "As for Edward himself, Thurston (who also played this role in a Big Noise Theatre production a few years back) completely understands the complex character of a man who was a “big fish” in his tiny Alabama town who finds himself weaving fantasies to embellish what he meets as he begins to take on the greater world."
​- Karen Topham

PicksInSix - "Thurston’s down-home charm and supple range match perfectly with the radiant Kyrie Anderson, who is captivating as his wife Sandra." - Ed Tracy

The Broadway Blog - "Mr. Thurston is a revelation as an admittedly imperfect husband and father who nonetheless regards life as a series of colossal possibilities. No experience is limiting except as beheld by the small thinker. It can’t be easy for an actor to play a character who repeatedly vacillates between a teenager and an elderly man without ever losing sight of subtle shifts in energy, appearance and wisdom. Mr. Thurston is so effective at these quick changes that it’s easy to forget we’re watching the same performer." - Becky Sarwate

The Bridges of Madison County - Theo Ubique

Chicago Tribune - "The whole cast — Carl Herzog’s Bud, Peyton Shaffer’s Carolyn, Molly LeCaptain’s Marian and Thurston’s Robert — is uniformly very solid." - Chris Jones 

Chicago Sun Times - "Thurston reads a shade too young for the world-weary Robert, but that becomes negligible when he starts singing. Robert has several key musical passages that are as naked as music gets: Not a note of orchestration to accompany him, not so much as a pitch pipe to get him started. Thurston nails them, both technically and emotionally. And he’s a good foil for Herzog’s matter-of-fact, content-as-pie farmer Bud."
​ - Catey Sullivan

Chicago Reader - "Leads Kelli Harrington and Tommy Thurston bring a smoldering gravitas to their performances that makes the story believable and delicious."
​- Sheri Flanders

Around The Town Chicago - "Robert ( played to perfection by Tommy Thurston) is gentle and kind and Francesca finds herself bedazzled by the way he talks. We can see the chemistry between these two start and grow with every minute they are together."
- Alan Bresloff

Chicago Theatre Review -  "Audiences adored him as Starbuck in BoHo Theatre’s “110 in the Shade,” and, with his rich, full baritone vocals, Tommy Thurston breaks the audience’s heart as Robert Kincaid. Although Thurston’s photographer is a rugged man’s man, and seemingly a contented, artistic loner, he sees in Francesca everything that’s been missing from his life. Through Mr. Thurston’s expressive voice, face and posture, audiences will discover a gentle, caring man who finally finds, as he sings, “The World Inside a Frame.” - Colin Douglas

Buzznews.net -  "...with Robert as her partner in emotional upheaval countering with a comparably challenging song book. Tommy Thurston acquits himself admirably, in a complex role." - Bill Esler

Chicago On Stage - "Any production of this lovely and personal musical is going to be heavily dependent on the chemistry between its main characters, and Theo Ubique is lucky to have Harrington and Thurston, two extremely likable actors (and very strong singers) who propel their characters’ accidental meeting into something much more."
- Karen Topham

110 in the Shade - BoHo Theatre

Chicago Tribune - "Barron and Thurston embody the entwined wistfulness and hope in their characters, as they trade visions of romance in “Melisande” and “Simple Little Things.” - Kerry Reid

BroadwayWorld - "Tommy Thurston has a glimmer in his eye and a winsome ease that endears us to him immediately. Thurston also demonstrates considerable vocal expertise, and his act two solo "Melisande" is a highlight both in terms of vocals and acting. He plays the song moment-by-moment, finding in each lyric a moment of humor or genuine emotion." - Rachel Weinberg

Stage and Cinema - "But the industrial-strength triumph belongs to slyly smiling Tommy Thurston as a contagiously visionary Starbuck and a Rubenesque, powerfully persuasive Neala Barron as fallow-then-fertile, soon-to-be-radiant Lizzie (“Is It Really Me?”). His “Evenin’ Star” and her “Simple Little Things” and anguished “Old Maid” testify to all the bedrock basics from which beauty gets built. Forget Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn in the famous film. Nobody told these actors they weren’t creating these parts from the start, so they did." - Lawrence Bommer

Chicago Theatre Review - "Ms. Barron shares the stage with handsome Tommy Thurston, as Starbuck. Mr. Thurston has also impressed around Chicago in several supporting roles, including the Professor in Pride Films & Plays’ production of “Yank,” as well as the Painter in “Amour,” by Black Button Eyes Productions. Here, at last, Tommy gets to play the leading man and, as this dreaming wheeler-dealer, Mr. Thurston is both commanding and believable. He enchants the audience with numbers like “The Rain Song,” “Evenin’ Star” and “Melisande.” - Colin Douglas

 Chicagoland Musical Theatre - "For his part, Tommy Thurston's Starbuck is appropriately rugged and talks sweet magic even when off the clock, like his ridiculous yet beguiling ode to fantasy “Melisande.” And, in a study of opposites, whereas Barron’s Lizzie is terrified of being alone, Thurston recognizes that his transient way of life forbids anything deep, so his lot is a quiet yearning, as in “Evenin’ Star.” Those two songs, back to back, may just be the heart of the show, and the pair pull them off beautifully."
​- Patrick O'Brien

Picture This Post - "As much as 110 in the Shade is a story about hope and love, it is also one of trickery.  In this writer’s view Thurston does an excellent job bringing that to life through The Rain Song – which not only demonstrates his physical acting abilities, but also his top-notch vocal talents." - Lauren Katz