BETWEEN THE BARS | HERE Arts Center:
"Perhaps the most dramatically compelling of the visitors is Arlene (well played by Carol Todd, who perfectly captures the image of "trailer trash," loud and inappropriate in dress, bearing, and behavior). Arlene is the mother from hell, who holds her son Chad (Christopher Mowod) in her thrall through a combination of dependence and humiliation that he is unable to break."
-Howard Miller, Talkin' Broadway
"Carol Todd, who plays the mother of a guy who's incarcerated...she's not unlike Rose in Gypsy in the sense that in her own way she means well and yet she says and does the wrong thing quite often. But it really seems to come from a place of love... (Todd) really does know how to get under your skin, and she's very effective."
-Peter Filichia, This Week On Broadway, BroadwayRadio.com
"Arlene (Carol Todd) is the loudmouth, outrageously flirtatious mother of the slightly childlike Chad (Christopher Mowod). This is a cast of fine actors who communicate both the indignities of confinement and its ultimate tragic toll just feet away from the audience."
-Joel Benjamin, TheatreScene.net
F.I.R.E. | New Normal Rep:
"(Carol) Todd as Danica is terrific as the self-centered dragon all of us have probably worked for at some time...It’s always a sign of good writing, acting and direction when a play’s outcome is a surprise."
-Margie Royal, DelcoCultureVultures
"Kierra Bunch as Shauna oversees the team with a no-nonsense professional demeanor, answering to the demands of her erratic boss Danica, embodied with just the right degree of equivocation by Carol Todd. Every performance is character-defining, entertaining, and suspicious, with psychological insights, secrets, and attitudes exposed along the way, right up to the surprise ending."
-Deb Miller, DC Metro Theatre Arts
JERICHO | New Normal Rep:
"Josh... is moving to Israel to reaffirm his Jewish identity, something his wife, Jessica (Carol Todd, gut-wrenchingly powerful) fails to comprehend. In fact, her only fantasy is a knock-down-drag-out divorce from her misled, self-centered husband."
-Joel Benjamin, TheatreScene.net
"Certainly, cast members of New Normal Rep.’s inaugural production of the dramedy, Jericho, deserve high praise. They are offering impressively natural, nuanced performances. And New Normal Rep. Artistic Director Jack Canfora, as well as his team, have earned kudos for a superb debut production...the performances are some of the strongest you are likely to witness on any stage, virtual or in-person...Josh is solely belligerent during scenes between him and his wife, Jessica (a superb Carol Todd). In fact, you might find yourself looking for steam to rise during these scenes, when Josh and Jessica are hurling biting words at each other. Todd’s smile is hardly of the pleasant variety. Rather, it’s a stinging expression of scorn that Jessica has come to feel for Joshua. And Todd’s sarcasm-filled voice stings equally."
-Aaron Krause, TheatricalMusings.com
"Jason O’Connell and Carol Todd bring palpable animosity and pain to the battling Josh and Jess (whose justifiable outrage and drinking ignite the holiday fireworks), as they face the inevitable dissolution of their marriage."
-Deb Miller, DC Metro Theatre Arts
"His wife Jessica (Carol Todd who begins unlikeable and ends up fabulous in the drunk scene in the second act), is distraught, angry and uncomprehending over the fact her husband is no longer who she knew"
-Suzanna Bowling, Times Square Chronicles
"As directed by Marsha Mason for a new company called New Normal Rep, however, this well-acted, carefully-designed virtual production, available online through April 4, moved me... all six members of the cast - three of whom performed in the Off-Broadway production in 2013 - are first rate."
-Jonathan Mandell, New York Theatre
TO SHE WHO WAITS | ARTC:
"Todd gives a magnificent, lived-in performance as Meg, shot through with an often weary resolve."
-John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards, Thinking Theatre NYC
FERGUSON | Urban Stages
"FERGUSON makes scintillating use of the actress Carol Todd as an unreliable witness giving deposition on the interaction between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson. Delivering a masterclass in ambivalence, Todd - whose character is an internet troll who uses racist language, bipolar, a car accident survivor, and afflicted with admitted memory problems - grapples with what she wants to be true and the incontrovertible evidence that proves otherwise. Here, the soul of what FERGUSON might have been surges forth beautifully... In this scene, Todd is equal parts combative, coquettish, and remorseful; her acting is such that one forgives her even as she tells obvious lies and voices repugnant sentiments. Intriguingly, she is so guilelessly convinced by her own confused words that one believes in her and feels compelled to challenge the very nature of honesty."
-Juan Michael Porter II, Broadway World
JERICHO | 59E59:
"Josh’s wife, Jessica (Carol Todd), is unwilling to relocate. Ms. Todd did the role in the play’s world premiere by the New Jersey Repertory Company in 2011, and, if anything, she has gotten better. Jessica is a mean drunk — she has way too much white wine before the catered turkey and stuffing come to the table — and, because her anger is so justified, we love her for it."
-Anita Gates, The New York Times
"But it was Carol Todd as Josh’s put-upon wife, Jessica, who I thought did the very best job of all, enabling the audience to actually experience the feelings of one whose world is falling apart in the most unexpected of ways."
-Alan Miller, A Seat on the Aisle
"Carol Todd (Jessica) manages to appear frustrated, appalled and in love at the same time creating a whole, many layered woman. Her anger wells up in the face of the unthinkable through speeches that set one reeling. Todd is believable when inebriated – no easy feat. She’s as good a physical actress as a dramatic one."
-Alix Cohen, Woman Around Town
"and when Carol Todd’s Jessica explodes with rage over the change in her husband’s persona, it’s overwhelming."
-Ron Cohen, NYTheater Now
"(The playwright) clearly has a tight grasp on razor-sharp banter, most frequently delivered by the delightfully sardonic Carol Todd"
-Geri Silver, Theatre is Easy
"Todd plays unhappy Jessica with unbridled passion and intensity in a portrayal that has deepened in the intervening two years. In the aftermath of the turbulent Thanksgiving dinner, during which the walls of this Jericho family come tumbling down, Jessica, who’s been guzzling wine, explodes in a raving scene. Todd, playing against tipsiness (as drinkers do), strips Jessica emotionally naked. It’s a blistering performance."
-Philip Dorian, Scene on Stage
"Andrew Rein and Carol Todd, the only holdovers from the New Jersey production, are again outstanding as the easy-going Ethan and Josh's distressed wife Jessica. The latter's meltdown scene, fueled by wine and rage at the husband she feels she lost to 9/11 even though he survived, is a highlight."
-Simon Saltzman, Curtain Up
JERICHO | NJ Rep:
"Ms. Todd gives a sterling performance as Jessica, who slowly but steadily gets smashed on white wine before dinner has even been served. There is not a false note in her drunken tirade."
-Anita Gates, The New York Times
"Carol Todd is magnificent in showing all of Jessica’s many feelings toward her husband: impatience, anger and devastation. The way she delivers her question to Josh — “What’s the point of us if I can’t help you?” — brings tears to her eyes, and will undoubtedly yield many from the audience, too."
-Peter Filichia, Newark Star Ledger (nj.com)
"Standouts in an equally weighted cast include…Todd, scary-good as always in a display of well-oiled extreme mood swings"
-Tom Chesek, Asbury Park Press/ Upper Wet Side
"Carol Todd’s Jessica, the betrayed, embittered wife who has been widowed by the event every bit as much as has Beth, lets forth a howl of pain and rage and despair in Act II that brought the house down for me."
-Nita Congress, NYTheatre.com
"Todd meets the challenge of being both credible in her unhappiness and heart-breaking in her rage."
-Simon Saltzman, Curtain Up
"Carol Todd brings depth to the victimized Jessica whose petulant behavior never begs for our sympathy."
-Bob Rendell, Talkin' Broadway
INTERMISSION | The Clurman:
"Lori learns a hard lesson about the costs of manipulating others in the crisply paced and superbly acted Intermission"
-Jon Sobel, BlogCritics
"The game cast navigates the treacherous water of this purposefully contrived plot with aplomb, aided in no small measure by especially strong performances toward the end, where the lightness of the early going veers toward painful parting scenes, as the offstage production (and its “coming out” announcement) takes a heavy toll on relationships. The playwright has given each character a meaty exit scenario to play, and all of the actors really step up to the plate here and deliver emotional, credible scene work."
-Michael Hillyer, The Front Row Center
ANTS | NJ Rep:
"Carol Todd has created a nuanced Kara who moves effortlessly from darkest cynicism and blackest humor to warmth and spontaneity."
-Nita Congress, nytheatre.com
"As Kara, Todd ("Jericho," "Apple" and many others) turns in her usual fine work — painting a portrait of a woman who morphs from a tired, bitter, house-poor prisoner of suburbia to a radiant big-city gypsy on the wings of a dream."
-Tom Chesek, Asbury Park Press
APPLE | NJ Rep:
"CAROL TODD PUTS THE BITE IN APPLE - No actress in the state can play cold-as-ice better than Carol Todd… Here she is again, flashing those piercing eyes and getting out that grim grin in Apple."
-Peter Filichia, Newark Star Ledger (nj.com)
"The cast is outstanding…Ms. Todd’s opening monologue, excoriating her nemesis, Darlene, is a zinger. Watching her strip off clothes, jewelry and any veneer of pretense after a frustrating day at work as a real estate broker, we quickly learn enough about Evelyn, or Lyn as she calls herself, to explain her past, present and future."
-Naomi Siegel, The New York Times
"Todd in particular is scary-good as she segues from a woman whose every human encounter is a high-tension confrontation, to a woman who reaches a point where the best of times are measured in mere moments. It's a flawless performance — cutting yet vulnerable; off-putting yet chillingly familiar to anyone who's ever watched a loved one fade like the end of a favorite old record."
-Tom Chesek, Asbury Park Press
PLACE SETTING | NJ Rep:
"Carol Todd gives an exceptionally unmannered performance as Andrea, the model homemaker… Todd is magnificent when she offers a startlingly different point of view on loyalty in marriage."
-Peter Filichia, Newark Star Ledger, nj.com
"And Greg and Andrea (nicely portrayed by Carol Todd) provide a stellar example of why the unexamined marriage might not be worth having."
-Phoebe Hoban, The New York Times
"Andrea isn't quite desperate, but this housewife's calm perfectionism barely masks the frustrations that lurk below the surface. Ms. Todd acts that subtext to perfection. If Todd weren't so very good, Andrea's brief, overdue outburst wouldn't resonate as it does."
-Philip Dorian, Two River Times
"Last seen here in the provocative "Whores," Carol Todd positions herself at the center of this production, by virtue of a solid performance as a woman to whom even domestic upheaval must occur on a clearly delineated timetable, and under a coded sort of etiquette."
-Tom Chesek, Asbury Park Press
SONG OF GRENDELYN | Writers Theatre of NJ:
"Outfitted in Grace Slick black leather, tattoos and zippered boots, raven haired Todd creates the image of a familiar monster with steely authority in a sharply stylized, raw performance."
-Robert L. Daniels, Variety
"Unknown to Hannah, Melinda, her childhood friend played with ferocity by a gravel-voiced Carol Todd, has appeared, unannounced and drunk, at Hannah's home."
-Naomi Siegel, New York Times
"How can Carol Todd sleep at night? The accomplished actress has played many charming characters in her impressive New Jersey stage career. Now though, in "The Song of Grendelyn" she's playing a monstrous sort who constantly terrorizes a 12-year old child. ..Todd, with a jungle of hair on her head, doesn't need her leather wrath-of-God outfit to scare anyone."
-Peter Filichia, Newark Star Ledger
"Carol Todd plays Melinda with a palpable, searing ferocity and a coarseness born of a desire to rebel against the conventional ways of her minister father... (Ellis gains points for) maintaining her stage presence in the face of such a talented actor as Todd."
-Ruth Ross, Recorder Community Newspapers
WHORES | NJ Rep + WTNJ:
"In a gem of an inside-show biz scene, Miou-Miou and Josette (Carol Todd) argue about addressing the audience directly. It's very entertaining and ends with Todd explaining the actor's dilemma, and she couldn't be better. These two also play Raoul's obnoxious kids, and they ace those roles as well."
-Philip Dorian, Two River Times
"As made manifest by Lea Eckert, Carol Todd, Lily Mercer and Corinne Edgerly, the nuns and whores are just a couple of aspects of the same multifaceted characters. These smart, strong, sexy players don full habits, severe business suits and thongs to transform themselves into everything from United States attorneys and TV network executives, to Raoul's own wife and kids."
-Tom Chesek, Asbury Park Press
"The five actors... are appropriately fearless and handle the play's frantic jump cutting with ease."
-Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
"Ms. Todd does a dazzling turn as Josette, among other characters, delivering a monologue that has the audience in stitches."
-Liz Keill, Madison Independent Press
"Carol Todd's French whore, Josette, is as seductive as her nun is saintly and her prosecutor able."
-Ruth Ross, Recorder Community Newspapers
BETTY'S SUMMER VACATION | The Theater Project:
"Carol Todd beautifully plays Betty, who cannot keep her head when all about her are either literally or figuratively losing theirs. She's perfectly cast."
-Peter Filichia, Newark Star Ledger
TOP GIRLS | The Theater Project:
"Their fascinating lives unfold with Carol Todd's portrayal of Scotswoman Isabella Bird who circled the globe three times and wrote eight books of her travels during the Victorian era. Todd is exceptional in her dialect, lilt and flow. She is equally stellar in the smaller parts she plays in Act II."
-Susan M. Dougherty, The Westfield Leader and The Times