Rachel Barlaam
ACTOR/SINGER/SONGWRITER/SOUNDDESIGNER
"Valuable humor contributed by supporting players and creditable musicality and dancing, the production reaps a more-than-respectable payoff... Noteworthy supporting turns include Rachel Barlaam’s funny portrait of Madelaine True, a lesbian with an aggressively roving eye. " - Celia Wren
"The instincts are good in this small-scale production, and Rachel Barlaam is notably assured as Bonnie Parker. She’s a singer with touch and style. Russell Silber is a crooked-grinned country striver as Clyde — but Barlaam’s the one to watch" - Nelson Pressley (The Washington Post).
"Madelaine True, played by Rachel Barlaam, is a lesbian on the prowl. She sings of her desires to find a lover in “An Old-Fashioned Love Story.” Barlaam’s vocal command, combined with her comedic brilliance, made this number perfectly outrageous and incredible. Barlaam plays the raunchy side of True but with such an endearing, love sick-way that the audience can’t help but hope she finds someone to stumble home with her." - Kendall Mostafavi
"Lead performers Rachel Barlaam and Russell Silber give us memorable portraits of Bonnie and Clyde. She outsizes him in voice and dreams, and you can feel in her a real full-figured woman from the heartland restless to bust out and find a better life. When she sings she transports us into believing she might just become “the it” girl, and we root for her. This “ravishing redhead” can turn vamp on in a song like “How about a Dance” then switch to tender dreamy girl in one moment and become a pouncing sparring partner the next" - Susan Galbraith (DC Theatre Scene).
"The supporting cast has time to shine themselves. In fact, The Wild Party is the first musical I can remember in some time where I never once lost interest during the interludes of the side characters. Madelaine True (Rachel Barlaam) steals the show with her hilariously vulgar lesbian anthem “An Old-Fashioned Love Story” - Seth Rose
"The standout of the ensemble is Rachel Barlaam as Madelaine True, a droll lesbian on the make who is searching for her next conquest. Lippa has given her the show’s best song, “An Old-Fashioned Love Story,” and Barlaam squeezes all she can from it, in a genuine show-stopper." - Peter Orvetti
"It must be great to be called the ‘It Girl’ and Rachel Barlaam is it. Taking on one half of the titular roles in this show— we’ll give you a hint, she’s Bonnie— Barlaam is a smash. With a wild spirit that can’t be tamed, Barlaam tackles the role of Bonnie with rigorous effort, spinning her into the gun-toting, poetry-spinning outlaw that history was so fond of. “Too Late to Turn Back Now” is a breakout moment for Barlaam as we see her filter through a dozen emotions from the top of the number through to its conclusion. With a strong and heady voice, “Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad” becomes a haunting 11 o’clock number for the ravishing redhead that is not easily forgot. Her chemistry with Clyde is top notch; from their initial encounter through to the show’s finale there isn’t a moment where Barlaam puts anything less than pure connection into her interactions with Clyde" - Amanda N. Gunther (Theatre Bloom).
"Playing opposite of Coleman in the villainess slot, Rachel Barlaam takes the role of Penelope Pennywise to task and belts her heart and soul out for “Privilege to Pee.” With pipes strong enough to hold even the most heinous overflowing spillage, Barlaam does not shy away from her vocal prowess in that song, any of her songs, or the role in general. Downplaying the character’s overtly crass nature, Barlaam focuses instead on the humanity of Pennywise, a rare gift to be found in a show where the principal characters are essentially constructed as caricatures of stereotypes. A strong addition to the cast as a whole, Barlaam sets out to impress in the role and does so with gusto" - Amanda N. Gunther (Theatre Bloom).
"But when Barlaam let go it was volcanic. In “Superboy and the Invisible Girl,” sung with Milanic and Ratner Whalen, the vocals were spine-tingling and the pain and frustration was real. Her harmonies with Wheeler and Ratner Whalen in “Song of Forgetting” was my favorite performance of the night. This Natalie was a force to be reckoned with and Barlaam’s performance was a tour de force!" - Joel Markowitz (DC Metro Theater Arts).
“You reek of permanent marker’’ Barlaam intones. A standout performer, Barlaam had the audience gasping with just a touch of intonation and phrasing." -Brian Bochicchio (DC Metro Theatre Arts).
*Rachel won a 2016 WATCH award for the role of Pickles*
Sound Design Reviews
"Sound designer Rachel Barlaam underlays each locale with memory-jogging atmospherics" - Jane Horwitz (The Washington Post).
"Props by Cassandra Schulz and Rachel Barlaam’s sound design puts the audience right in the middle of a man’s muddled mind and the national politics of the moment" - David Siegel (The Connection).