October 27, 2009 - University of Pennsylvania SAS Frontiers
Sympathy for the Attorney General
"Fellow graduate student Thomas Patteson, who attended one of the performances, observes, “The Gonzales Cantata is effective both as a work of art—the music is exquisite—and as mordant political commentary... The use of Congressional testimony in the libretto created numerous situations of humorous contrast between prosaic speech and music that poked fun at its pomposity.”"

September 7, 2009 - J's Theater
The Gonzales Cantata @ The Rotunda, Philadelphia
"...confident, charged composition and orchestration, [with] pragmatic inventiveness in the cantata's construction, [and] frequent wittiness and use of irony."

September 6, 2009 - The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Gonzales Cantata (review)
" Her Gonzales Cantata - more PDQ Bach than Nixon in China - uses Handel's formality and symmetry as a starting point, humorously colliding with Gonzales' anything-but-symmetrical train of thought, quoted from the 2007 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings"

September 5, 2009 - Sequenza21
Forget Gonzo Journalism…Philly’s got a Gonzo Cantata!
" Take heed, folks, not only should you go see this work – you should examine how this 29-year-old graduate student has received more press about her cantata than most major composers do when they win the Pulitzer Prize"

September 5, 2009 - CityPaper (Philadelphia)
The Gonzales Cantata (review)
"Lovely conductor/composer Melissa Dunphy has seamlessly re-created former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ 2007 judiciary hearings as an opera, with epic results."

September 4, 2009 - Edge Philadelphia
Opera illuminates dark days of Bush Administration
"Dunphy is just as passionate about politics as she is about the arts. She veers away from musical theory to cheer on Barney Frank for his blunt comments at a recent health care town hall. But she does not espouse any political bent in the opera."

September 3, 2009 - Harper's Magazine
And Now: Fredo, the Opera
"The career path of Alberto Gonzales provides perfect material for an opera in the tradition of George Frederick Handel. It has its earnest moments, flashes of heroism (involving Gonzales’s victims, of course, not the protagonist), and yet there is a steady undercurrent of opera buffa."

September 3, 2009 - The Chicago Tribune
Bravo! Alberto Gonzales: the Opera
"Every word in composer Melissa Dunphy's 40-minute choral production comes from Gonzales' Senate testimony. They never sounded more beautiful (Except maybe to the ears of relieved Team Bush members back in the White House) than when they are sung, especially by this bunch. "

September 3, 2009 - Fox News
Special Report with Bret Baier
"And if congressional hearings are your idea of a good time - aren't they all - a theater in Philadelphia has a night on the town for you."

September 3, 2009 - The Rachel Maddow Show - MSNBC
GonzOpera
"It is honestly, probably the coolest thing you've ever seen on this show. I know. I'm totally freaking out about it ... I spent all day obsessing about this, and watching clips of it online, and listening to the music, and I have to tell you, in my opinion, it is both great and kind of moving ... this is so cool, I could not contain myself."

September 2, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal law blog
Alberto Gonzales, the Concert Opera (No, We’re Not Kidding)
"I’ve had both Republicans and Democrats come to the show and remark that it really wasn’t about party politics. It’s about a man who made some mistakes and is facing the music. It’s also an exploration of how a man could so brazenly politicize the Department of Justice without really standing up for the reasons he went into politics in the first place."

April 11, 2009 - Examiner
Hamlet kills at the Lantern
"Melissa Dunphy made her debut at the Lantern as Ophelia, and she performed marvelously. An emotional punching bag, Ophelia is used as bait and lost to madness herself; Dunphy did a beautiful job embodying what grief and emotional turmoil can do to an individual, her facial expressions speaking volumes."

April 9, 2009 - Philadelphia Inquirer
Lantern's 'Hamlet' is worthy of the Bard
"Laertes' sister, Ophelia, is portrayed with real passion by Melissa Dunphy, the striking actress who last year hit bull's-eyes in two young-lover roles at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre. She is unquestionably the city's leading Shakespeare ingenue."

May 10, 2008 - Broad Street Review
Springtime for Shakespeare
"Melissa Dunphy, a near-perfect Juliet, appears to be a rapturous teenager and transmits a wonderful impetuosity."

April 17, 2008 - Gay City News (New York)
Weekending Among Brotherly Love
"Uniquely in my experience, Melissa Dunphy made Pericles' kidnapped daughter Marina believable as a 14-year-old able to turn wickedness to virtue by example and exhortation - and fortuitously can actually play the violin well."

April 12, 2008 - Broad Street Review
Othello vs. Pericles, or: Will Shakespeare, pioneering globalizer
"And without a similar global trade today—one that freely trades in products, art, and ideas—Philadelphians would not get to see the tender and nuanced performance of Australian native Melissa Dunphy in her local professional debut as Pericles’s daughter Marina. Like a mind closed to new ideas or cultures, restrictions on art or commerce that denied her talent from coming here to find work would make us all poorer indeed."

April 7, 2008 - The Quad
Romeo and Juliet: Convincing from start to kiss
"[Melissa Dunphy's] acting is on a personal level with her audience. When delivering her monologues, Dunphy is able to draw the audience, as if she is speaking directly to them. Dunphy is outstanding in the role, conveying with both her voice and body language all the emotions felt by Juliet as she rebels against her father and falls in love with her enemy."

March 18, 2008 - Philadelphia Inquirer
Bard's tale of young love is oddly distant
"She's Melissa Dunphy, and she's from Australia. She plays from the heart, and also delivers the cast's best line readings of Elizabethan English ..."

January 28, 2008 - WRTI Critic-At-Large Podcast
Poetry Project – Network for New Music
"Melissa Dunphy's setting of Luke Stromberg's Black Thunder reflects the extravagance and paranoia of young love and its powerful ending."

January 19, 2008 - Philadelphia Inquirer
Though little heard, he would have approved
"In the second half, Luke Stromberg's marvelous poem "Black Thunder," about the aftereffects of drink, was given an appropriately bluesy haze by Melissa Dunphy."

March 29, 2006 - Patriot-News
Minimalist cast does 'Hamlet' proud
"As Ophelia, Melissa Dunphy flew around the set. Her mad scene and beautiful singing voice were mesmerizing. I loved the fluidity of her movement as she portrayed the Player Queen and Lucianus, and her transformations into Horatio and Guildenstern defied the elements of time."

February 23, 2006 - Patriot-News
Theater company branches out with Broadway musical for all
""The music is very jazzy, very sophisticated," said Melissa Dunphy, who is part of the cast besides serving as Gamut's music director. "It's very '30s and '40s.""

November 2, 2005 - Patriot-News
Men, women mix it up in compelling 'Henry IV'
"The fourth member of the key quartet is Melissa Dunphy, dark-haired, dark-eyed and full of anger. She plays the fiery Hotspur (Henry Percy) with an intensity and rage that make her a compelling figure to watch."

October 23, 2005 - Patriot-News
When the lady is a king
""It's so different," Dunphy said. "You have to think yourself into a man's body. Since I'm five foot three and don't look anything like a man, it's hard to think myself into having broad shoulders and thinner hips." "

August 7, 2005 - Patriot-News
New members add talent to Gamut troupe
""Melissa is really talented, and she brings a lot of new talents to the company we've not had before." "

July 29, 2005 - Central Penn Business Journal
More employers reading workers' blogs
""I like Melissa's blog. It helps in my business to intimately know my employees." "

March 17, 2005 - Patriot-News
Classic 'Glass' explores frailties
"Ambient music played onstage by violinist Melissa Dunphy also helps to create a dreamlike atmosphere."

November 17, 2004 - Patriot-News
'Tempest': Go see it before it blows over
"Ariel, played by Melissa Dunphy, who slithers and slides on the stage and leaps and climbs all over it, seeks to be freed from Prospero's spell and serves as his eyes and ears. She also plays a recorder competently, adding to the production's eerie tone."

July 23, 2004 - Lancaster Intelligencer Journal
A feather in her Capulet
"Melissa Dunphy can relate to characters in an epic romance. She's living one herself, thanks to rock group Nine Inch Nails and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services."

June 6, 2004 - Patriot-News
Company presents lively 'Dream'
"Even the background players in this production are noteworthy: the raucous fairies double as musicians and singers, playing rustic but graceful tunes by Melissa Dunphy"

February 26, 2004 - Lancaster Intelligencer Journal
Romeo and Juliet' reduced
"Dunphy's Juliet is … a joy to watch … [her] face is captivating, whether in rapture or tears."