SOME HOT TAKES
THE HEART SELLERS
As Luna, Javier’s effervescent energy is addictive. Hurried speech and abrupt topic changes burst from her and are wedded to a restless physicality that is like welcome sparks firing. It’s the kind of thoroughly developed characterization that makes it implausible in the moment to envision anyone else in the role.
- Christopher Smith, Orange County Register
Nicole Javier (Luna) ... delivers the fireworks the show needed to keep the play moving.
- LA Drama Critics Circle
Javier started singing a Tagalog song with such gutsy emotion that I somewhat remember from my youth. That display of vulnerability hints at just how far Luna’s character had to go in order to dull her once brilliant shine for the sake of appearances.
- Michael Quintos, Broadway World, Los Angeles
Finally, ‘The Heart Sellers’ is the fitting tribute to your immigrant parentsJavier makes all these griefs and anxieties a full-body experience. Her Luna is a cocked trigger that doesn’t care where or how it discharges: giggles, sobs, a “Soul Train” dance move, a fit of make-believe or all those at the same time.
- Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
Heart Sellers: A bittersweet look at immigrant experience
Javier is a terrific actor, and does some of her best work inside this particular conundrum, pure catnip for any audience member who possesses a shred of empathy. She’s also fleet of foot, bounding throughout the stage with endless glee that is informed by both hope and heartache.
- David John Chavez, The Mercury News
Javier is a powerhouse, a fast-talking Filippino that barely takes a breath. Her nerves and anxiousness are fully on display, and every word is tinged with a touch of desperation. Luna uses noise, talk, and movement to cover the hurt she feels in being away from her family, and Javier makes sure that we still see it in her eyes.
- Kelly Rogers Flynt, Broadway World, San Francisco
Nicole Javier and Narea Kang are nothing short than absolutely fabulous as Luna and Jane...Nicole Javier’s Luna is so excited to welcome her first-ever guest that she talks a mile a minute peppered by giggles galore, arms waving, and teeth fully displayed in a smile covering near half her face.
- Eddie Reynolds, Theatre Eddys
Milwaukee Repertory Theater's world premiere of 'The Heart Sellers' is a stunning comedy
"I would sign up today for a whole season of shows about Luna (Nicole Javier) and Jane (Narea Kang), the young immigrant wives who become friends in Lloyd Suh's warmhearted comedy "The Heart Sellers."
Javier does much of the play's verbal heavy lifting while pinballing around the stage.
But each knows the feeling of being torn between two worlds, which Javier's Luna makes clear in an anguished speech in which she worries she won't be able to make her children understand the life of her mother.
- Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
THE HEART SELLERS is a Laugh-Aloud Lover Letter to Friendship at MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER
Luna (Nicole Javier) barrels into the scene, goofy and garrulous, talking a mile a minute and barely stopping to catch a breath. Javier and Kang share a natural, jovial rapport and easy hysterical laughter.
Javier's chatty, high-energy Luna balances Kang's restrained Jane until the two eventually meet in the middle.
Even in moments of silence, these two communicate such depth and dimension. It's not just their expressions, but their delivery of these characters' simple acts of friendly intimacy.
- Kelsey Lawler, Broadway World, Chicago
THE HEART SELLERS Is a Winning World Premiere
"Rep's comedy about Asian immigrants in 1970's will sneak up on you with its insights. The play is almost a thoughtful test pilot for a new sitcom ("Luna and Jane Go to K-Mart").
The babbling loose-tongued Javier runs around the apartment on tippy toes...
- Dominique Paul Noth, Urban Milwaukee
Javier is simply a marvel as the exuberant, gregarious Luna, so real yet so larger than life. And both actresses filled moments until they were brimming over with laughs or with tears.
- Harry Cherkinian, Shepard Express
Nicole Javier (Luna) and Narea Kang (Jane) have great chemistry and play off one another incredibly well. Then there are times when each is charged with commanding the stage alone, and command they do. In these privates moments, we see their curiosity... truly, every moment of this play is purposeful and powerful.
- Amy Menzel, Around the Town- Chicago
THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Nicole Javier’s Laura is visibly plagued in her constant fear of having to expose her limp and her shyness to anyone outside her mother and her brother. Nicole Javier leaves searing images in our mind’s eye.
- Eddie Reynolds, Theatre Eddys
Nicole Javier is heartbreaking as Laura...
- Christopher Beale, Stage and Cinema
Javier is in a tough spot yet she executes her arc with aplomb... Javier’s portrayal, which is a great combination of misery without being pathetic, is terrific. Javier’s smile radiates (the setup) before her Amanda is dropped on her head (the payoff) and shards of glass are metaphorically strewn everywhere. Fantastic variance right there.
- David John Chavez, American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association
Javier has more vitality than many Lauras I’ve seen, more external than internal. But then when she crumbles, that gives her even further to fall. Her extended duet with Hodgson’s Jim is heartbreakingly tender.
- Chad Jones, Theatre Dogs
ANIMAL FARM
Nicole Javier has a beautiful voice and heartbreakingly delivers the one true standalone song wherein she recognizes her fate as a man smoking behind her cracks a whip.
- Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema
The lovely Nicole Javier is heartbreaking as Mollie, the horse who actually misses her humans and sings a poignant song about being brushed and wearing ribbons in her mane.
- Alisa Hayashida, South Pasadenan
Mollie (a minor character in the book played here with a disarmingly gentle voice by Nicole Javier) sings of her folly in returning to a life of subjugation. The tone of the piece pivots around this song as a fulcrum and the dramatic emotion of the adaptation...
- Andrew Child, Broadway World, Los Angeles
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
"Later in the play, when the action shifts to Italy, Nicole Javier gives the production some fortitude and backbone as Diana, an innkeeper's daughter pursued by Bertram and ultimately co-opted by Helen to help set things right."
- Joy Evan Henerson, Broadway World, Los Angeles
TOKYO FISH STORY
"It's the explosive fiery feminist badass newbie Ama (Nicole Javier) that brings the most pungency to the narrative."
- Karen D'Souza, San Jose Mercury News
"Helping round out the talented ensemble is Nicole Javier. As Ama, Ms. Javier displays persistence and purpose of her own desires while fully embracing with knowing looks and caring eyes the respect and reverence due to the honored Koji."
-Eddie Reynolds, Talkin' Broadway
"Javier manages to give Ama more dimensionality than is on the page, making her more of an equal in Takashi's realm. Her dreamy appearances as The Woman are haunting and timeless."
- Jeanie K. Smith, Mountain View Voice
EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM
Listed in KQED's Arts Do It List
"A winsome Nicole Javier plays Edith with such engaging and uncutesy bravado..."
- Jean Schiffman, San Francisco Examiner
"Javier as Edith has a taller order. As the youngest kid, she has to straddle that chasm between childhood and adulthood and not give one of those annoying “adult playing widdle kiddle” performances, which she studiously avoids. Edith is a firecracker, Javier certainly delivers on ferocity, intelligence and emotional volatility."
- Chad Jones, Bay Area Backstage
"Javier adroitly captures the title character's contradictions. She is a wise, mature adult, a tough-talking, trigger-happy maverick, and a terrified little girl."
- Lily Janiak, SF Weekly
RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN
Listed in KQED's Best Theater of 2014: A Year Full to Bursting with Powerful Performances
"Nicole Javier's Avery... is the fresh, not to mention caustic breeze of youth, challenging - and judging - her elders... "
- Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle
"Midriff-bearing Avery (a jaunty Nicole Javier)... delivers many of the tartiest lines in the play, including an unforgettable joke about the commonalities between porn and Google Maps, nicely framed by Javier's keen comic instincts."
- Karen D'Souza, San Jose Mercury News
"Avery (a fierce, forthright Nicole Javier) shine[s] in scene after hilarious scene. Together, Bogovich and Javier achieve something rare — a comedy that goes deep, yet never loses its sense of humor."
- Georgia Rowe, The San Francisco Examiner
SOME GIRL(S)
"New hotel room, and we meet Tyler (Nicole Javier), a hot lusty babe with seemingly one thing on her mind, until we learn that she, too, nurses some wounds. Javier is a marvelous example of the wealth and depth of Bay Area acting talent."
- Jeannie K. Smith, Talking Broadway
FRESH VOICES SHOWCASE: DEMONS AND DELIGHTS
"Through a collage of Shakespeare, music, and movement, Nicole follows the footsteps of the famous Alice in Wonderland to discover that the rabbit hole turned out to be one of the best rides of her life."
- Kathy Lauer-Williams, The Morning Call
As Luna, Javier’s effervescent energy is addictive. Hurried speech and abrupt topic changes burst from her and are wedded to a restless physicality that is like welcome sparks firing. It’s the kind of thoroughly developed characterization that makes it implausible in the moment to envision anyone else in the role.
- Christopher Smith, Orange County Register
Nicole Javier (Luna) ... delivers the fireworks the show needed to keep the play moving.
- LA Drama Critics Circle
Javier started singing a Tagalog song with such gutsy emotion that I somewhat remember from my youth. That display of vulnerability hints at just how far Luna’s character had to go in order to dull her once brilliant shine for the sake of appearances.
- Michael Quintos, Broadway World, Los Angeles
Finally, ‘The Heart Sellers’ is the fitting tribute to your immigrant parentsJavier makes all these griefs and anxieties a full-body experience. Her Luna is a cocked trigger that doesn’t care where or how it discharges: giggles, sobs, a “Soul Train” dance move, a fit of make-believe or all those at the same time.
- Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
Heart Sellers: A bittersweet look at immigrant experience
Javier is a terrific actor, and does some of her best work inside this particular conundrum, pure catnip for any audience member who possesses a shred of empathy. She’s also fleet of foot, bounding throughout the stage with endless glee that is informed by both hope and heartache.
- David John Chavez, The Mercury News
Javier is a powerhouse, a fast-talking Filippino that barely takes a breath. Her nerves and anxiousness are fully on display, and every word is tinged with a touch of desperation. Luna uses noise, talk, and movement to cover the hurt she feels in being away from her family, and Javier makes sure that we still see it in her eyes.
- Kelly Rogers Flynt, Broadway World, San Francisco
Nicole Javier and Narea Kang are nothing short than absolutely fabulous as Luna and Jane...Nicole Javier’s Luna is so excited to welcome her first-ever guest that she talks a mile a minute peppered by giggles galore, arms waving, and teeth fully displayed in a smile covering near half her face.
- Eddie Reynolds, Theatre Eddys
Milwaukee Repertory Theater's world premiere of 'The Heart Sellers' is a stunning comedy
"I would sign up today for a whole season of shows about Luna (Nicole Javier) and Jane (Narea Kang), the young immigrant wives who become friends in Lloyd Suh's warmhearted comedy "The Heart Sellers."
Javier does much of the play's verbal heavy lifting while pinballing around the stage.
But each knows the feeling of being torn between two worlds, which Javier's Luna makes clear in an anguished speech in which she worries she won't be able to make her children understand the life of her mother.
- Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
THE HEART SELLERS is a Laugh-Aloud Lover Letter to Friendship at MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER
Luna (Nicole Javier) barrels into the scene, goofy and garrulous, talking a mile a minute and barely stopping to catch a breath. Javier and Kang share a natural, jovial rapport and easy hysterical laughter.
Javier's chatty, high-energy Luna balances Kang's restrained Jane until the two eventually meet in the middle.
Even in moments of silence, these two communicate such depth and dimension. It's not just their expressions, but their delivery of these characters' simple acts of friendly intimacy.
- Kelsey Lawler, Broadway World, Chicago
THE HEART SELLERS Is a Winning World Premiere
"Rep's comedy about Asian immigrants in 1970's will sneak up on you with its insights. The play is almost a thoughtful test pilot for a new sitcom ("Luna and Jane Go to K-Mart").
The babbling loose-tongued Javier runs around the apartment on tippy toes...
- Dominique Paul Noth, Urban Milwaukee
Javier is simply a marvel as the exuberant, gregarious Luna, so real yet so larger than life. And both actresses filled moments until they were brimming over with laughs or with tears.
- Harry Cherkinian, Shepard Express
Nicole Javier (Luna) and Narea Kang (Jane) have great chemistry and play off one another incredibly well. Then there are times when each is charged with commanding the stage alone, and command they do. In these privates moments, we see their curiosity... truly, every moment of this play is purposeful and powerful.
- Amy Menzel, Around the Town- Chicago
THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Nicole Javier’s Laura is visibly plagued in her constant fear of having to expose her limp and her shyness to anyone outside her mother and her brother. Nicole Javier leaves searing images in our mind’s eye.
- Eddie Reynolds, Theatre Eddys
Nicole Javier is heartbreaking as Laura...
- Christopher Beale, Stage and Cinema
Javier is in a tough spot yet she executes her arc with aplomb... Javier’s portrayal, which is a great combination of misery without being pathetic, is terrific. Javier’s smile radiates (the setup) before her Amanda is dropped on her head (the payoff) and shards of glass are metaphorically strewn everywhere. Fantastic variance right there.
- David John Chavez, American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association
Javier has more vitality than many Lauras I’ve seen, more external than internal. But then when she crumbles, that gives her even further to fall. Her extended duet with Hodgson’s Jim is heartbreakingly tender.
- Chad Jones, Theatre Dogs
ANIMAL FARM
Nicole Javier has a beautiful voice and heartbreakingly delivers the one true standalone song wherein she recognizes her fate as a man smoking behind her cracks a whip.
- Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema
The lovely Nicole Javier is heartbreaking as Mollie, the horse who actually misses her humans and sings a poignant song about being brushed and wearing ribbons in her mane.
- Alisa Hayashida, South Pasadenan
Mollie (a minor character in the book played here with a disarmingly gentle voice by Nicole Javier) sings of her folly in returning to a life of subjugation. The tone of the piece pivots around this song as a fulcrum and the dramatic emotion of the adaptation...
- Andrew Child, Broadway World, Los Angeles
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
"Later in the play, when the action shifts to Italy, Nicole Javier gives the production some fortitude and backbone as Diana, an innkeeper's daughter pursued by Bertram and ultimately co-opted by Helen to help set things right."
- Joy Evan Henerson, Broadway World, Los Angeles
TOKYO FISH STORY
"It's the explosive fiery feminist badass newbie Ama (Nicole Javier) that brings the most pungency to the narrative."
- Karen D'Souza, San Jose Mercury News
"Helping round out the talented ensemble is Nicole Javier. As Ama, Ms. Javier displays persistence and purpose of her own desires while fully embracing with knowing looks and caring eyes the respect and reverence due to the honored Koji."
-Eddie Reynolds, Talkin' Broadway
"Javier manages to give Ama more dimensionality than is on the page, making her more of an equal in Takashi's realm. Her dreamy appearances as The Woman are haunting and timeless."
- Jeanie K. Smith, Mountain View Voice
EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM
Listed in KQED's Arts Do It List
"A winsome Nicole Javier plays Edith with such engaging and uncutesy bravado..."
- Jean Schiffman, San Francisco Examiner
"Javier as Edith has a taller order. As the youngest kid, she has to straddle that chasm between childhood and adulthood and not give one of those annoying “adult playing widdle kiddle” performances, which she studiously avoids. Edith is a firecracker, Javier certainly delivers on ferocity, intelligence and emotional volatility."
- Chad Jones, Bay Area Backstage
"Javier adroitly captures the title character's contradictions. She is a wise, mature adult, a tough-talking, trigger-happy maverick, and a terrified little girl."
- Lily Janiak, SF Weekly
RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN
Listed in KQED's Best Theater of 2014: A Year Full to Bursting with Powerful Performances
"Nicole Javier's Avery... is the fresh, not to mention caustic breeze of youth, challenging - and judging - her elders... "
- Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle
"Midriff-bearing Avery (a jaunty Nicole Javier)... delivers many of the tartiest lines in the play, including an unforgettable joke about the commonalities between porn and Google Maps, nicely framed by Javier's keen comic instincts."
- Karen D'Souza, San Jose Mercury News
"Avery (a fierce, forthright Nicole Javier) shine[s] in scene after hilarious scene. Together, Bogovich and Javier achieve something rare — a comedy that goes deep, yet never loses its sense of humor."
- Georgia Rowe, The San Francisco Examiner
SOME GIRL(S)
"New hotel room, and we meet Tyler (Nicole Javier), a hot lusty babe with seemingly one thing on her mind, until we learn that she, too, nurses some wounds. Javier is a marvelous example of the wealth and depth of Bay Area acting talent."
- Jeannie K. Smith, Talking Broadway
FRESH VOICES SHOWCASE: DEMONS AND DELIGHTS
"Through a collage of Shakespeare, music, and movement, Nicole follows the footsteps of the famous Alice in Wonderland to discover that the rabbit hole turned out to be one of the best rides of her life."
- Kathy Lauer-Williams, The Morning Call