“Playwright Sara Porkalob is a force for change.”
— Seattle Times
“[T]he Filipino powerhouse delivers a stunning one-person performance with effervescent singing, incredible characterizations, and the savage intimacy of reality. The versatility of her portrayals adds to the emotional resonance of the one-person show. Very few actors can accomplish what Sara Porkalob manages to achieve in Dragon Lady. Indeed, this is a show that should not be missed.”
– Hollywood Times
“The incandescent Sara Porkalob traverses a remarkably wide performative range to populate her tales about her Filipino grandmother (in Dragon Lady) and mother (in Dragon Mama) with dozens of other characters, each of whom Porkalob brings vividly to life with quick-sketch specificity. She’s got a knack for verbal and physical comedy, major dramatic acting chops, and a singing voice that is Broadway-caliber. In short, she’s a force and a phenomenon.”
– The Boston Globe
“Extraordinary. An amazing piece of theater…taking you from the depths of poignancy to the heights of hilarity. I was mesmerized. Sara Porkalob inhabits her grandmother all throughout the OBERON space…with extraordinary skill. She is going to be a major, major star.”
– WGBH, Boston Public Radio
“Porkalob leaves a potent theatrical impression. Her family’s immigrant story must be exceedingly painful to relive, but it’s also clearly empowering. And not only for her but also for theatergoers who might feel that their own unsanitized histories couldn’t stand scrutiny on a public stage. Dragon Lady gives permission for the marginalized and the morally messy to belt out their complicated truths.”
– Los Angeles Times
“…By the time the song is over the audience is left with two things: a distaste for America’s Founding Fathers and the knowledge that they’ve just witnessed a star being born. The star is Sara Porkalob, previously best known for her Dragon Cycle trilogy of solo-performed musicals exploring her family history.”
— Vulture Magazine
“A moment arrives in the deeply moving, Broadway-bound revival of “1776” when one’s conscience and senses are assaulted with the blunt force of a prizefighter’s upper cut. It happens during Sara Porkalob’s crackling delivery of “Molasses to Rum,” the Act 2 song scathingly denouncing the Continental Congress’s Northern delegates for their hypocrisy over slavery.”
— Washington Post
“Among the high points: …a blistering “Molasses To Rum,” in which show-stealer Sara Porkalob as South Carolina’s fervent advocate for slavery, Edward Rutledge, fiercely if ever so charmingly calls out the North’s hypocritical stance on the Triangle Trade – rum, molasses and slaves.”
— Deadline