Washington Classical Review:
Bass-baritone Christian Pursell roared and crooned as the Rev. Olin Blitch, an itinerant preacher who comes to town to lead a revival. Slender and handsome, Pursell made real the conflicts of the character with vocal prowess, in an especially explosive sermon scene in Act II. In a trope now somewhat familiar in American life, the preacher is guilty of the very sin he condemns in Susannah, lusting after and eventually forcing himself on her (“I’m a lonely man, Susannah”).
CHARLES T. DOWNEY