Nothing is arbitrary in this show, everything is coherent, quick and efficient, simultaneously polemical and gentle, unforgiving and funny; it is a witty depiction of reality, which has remained the same, just as it seems, from immemorial times. The convoy of the old women, the drunken priests with a penchant for worldly things, the couple in love, who have their feet firmly placed on the ground of courage, despite having their heads in the clouds (for the sake of convention) (Anca Hanu and Matei Rotaru), the Dragon (the exceptional Ionuț Caras!) & co. - they are all part of the tapestry, which captures the local troubles and the Balkan sins from before Burebista and Menelaus, as enduring as history itself.

                       
Doru Mareş, Timişoara 2014 - Timpul 1,
in the magazine Teatrul azi no. 10-11-12/2014

It is not wrong, uncultivated or pointless to laugh at an entertaining, apparently "shallow" show like Sânziana and Pepelea. The point of this production is enjoyment. We are supposed to go home with a smile on our faces after this show, which never shies away from a spirit of carnival and mockery. While making us laugh, the purpose of the show is to also introduce a few more serious suggestions about contemporary mores and excesses, as well as the relationship between the value of the past and the value of the present, about love, family, politics.

Florin-Rareş Tileagă, Dabija, avocatul poveştii - Sânziana şi Pepelea la FNT, 2014 / Dabija, in defence of the story - Sânziana and Pepelea at FNT, 2014,
in Agenda LiterNet.ro, November 2^nd 2014

Sânziana and Pepelea is a text with great potential, but it can also get stuck in an old-fashioned representation. In Alexandru Dabija's version, it is refreshing and surprising, becoming fully contemporary without missing a beat, in the most harmonious manner. Vasile Alecsandri's fairy-tale is organically reinvented. It becomes a grande histoire of our contemporary world, with its inherent beauty and flaws, with its hypocrisy, as well as its desire for beauty.
 

                                                Silvia Dumitrache, Mari clasici, reinventaţi prin ludic / The Great Classics, Playfully Reinvented,

in Observator cultural, no. 489 (747) 6-12 November 2014

We might have expected a forceful "actualisation" of the theme and the characters, but the director did not want to go down this path or did not find the appropriate "switch" ... While Alecsandri and a grand constellation of Romanian thinkers and creators have pointed out the sacred nature and the grandeur of local myths, fairy-tales and characters, Dabija follows Caragiale's example - "I see enormously and feel monstrously", which also informs Lucian Pintilie's recent work and which focuses on the caricatures and the risible things in Romanian society.

Eugen Cojocaru, „Sânziana și Pepelea", ca Broadway à la Balcani / "Sânziana and Pepelea", a Sort of Balkan Broadway,

in Luceafărul de dimineață, no. 2 (1056), February 2015

In the director's vision, Sânziana and Pepelea is more than a childish fairy-tale; it is read as a modern text, written primarily for an adult audience, making good use of the political satire behind the fictional world (...) "The main point of this show is enjoyment", says Alexandru Dabija. Well, the director must surely be pleased with the result. Coming out of the theatre, everybody was humming the songs written by the two composers.

                                                            Radu Constatinescu, Sânziana, Pepelea şi Dabija / Sânziana, Pepelea and Dabija,
in Ziarul de duminică, July 4^th 2013

A singing Sînziana and a Pepelea who plays the bagpipes, in a series of delightfully humorous situations, in which we can witness the actors' enjoyment of their craft - this is Alexandru Dabija's specialty as a director. As for the cast, they are fully engaged in performing these playful conventions, producing a dynamic show, full of impressive music and choreography. Classical and modern; a fairy-tale, an extravaganza and an allegory, mythology and superstition and a lot of high-quality humour.

                                         
Michaela Bocu, Invitaţiile Naţionalului: Sînziana şi Pepelea / You are Invited to the National Theatre: Sînziana and Pepelea,
in the newspaper Făclia, September 24^th 2013
 

[The preview], which was the last show of the previous season, in July, is called "Sânziana and Pepelea" (...) Who else could have directed it but... Alexandru Dabija, this homo ludens whom I sometimes picture wearing both traditional leather sandals and a top hat, twirling a branch instead of a magician's cane (this happens when I let my imagination roam without hesitation or censorship) and holding, in his other hand, an egg - but not a dogmatic one.

Radu Ţuculescu, Sfârşitul şi începutul stagiunii Teatrului Naţional clujean / The Beginning and the End of the Season at the National Theatre of Cluj,
in the newspaper Transilvania reporter, no. 411, Tuesday, September 24^th 2013

Dabija laughs at everyone and everything. At bigotry and gossip, at excessive prayers and rituals, at stupidity, at the ugliness of bodies and souls, at arrogance and the overestimation of one's physical strength. He celebrates intelligence and pays homage to love, which conquers all. He tells a story about a boy who loves a girl, about a handsome young man who does whatever he can to marry an equally beautiful girl, who is helped by people, by nature, by fabulous creatures, by fate. Dabija laughs and wants to share his laughter with us, working with an exceptional, highly skilled cast.

Mircea Morariu, Generosul Alexandru Dabija / The Generous Alexandru Dabija,
in Teatrul azi no. 11-12/2013 and Familia, series V, year 49 no. 11-12/2013

Sânziana and Pepelea was directed by Alexandru Dabija at the "Lucian Blaga" National Theatre (...) It appears to be a great success. An innovative approach, which transcends Alecsandri's classical satire, addressing our national vices, which still haunt us today, and making our Levantine confusion not only likeable, but also frightening - when it comes to a people that combines faith and superstition, trickery and wit, laziness and poetry, wine and water.

Doina Papp, Întâlnirile internaţionale de la Cluj / The International Meetings in Cluj,
in Revista 22, November 5^th 2013

The director Alexandru Dabija rewrites for the stage this extravaganza and brings forth certain aspects related to our contemporary mentalities, rooted in an archaic and popular cultural corpus. He does this through his characters, taken from the Romanian folklore and imagined by Alecsandri as part of a comical-parodic atmosphere. In the show, Dabija proposes a grotesque-comical satire on Romanian fatalism, spreading from individual to individual, until it contaminates our social structures and institutions.    

Crenguţa Manea, Istoriile subiective ale unui spectator uşor de fermecat / The Subjective Histories of an Easily-Charmed Spectator,
in Revista Teatrală Radio, June 9^th 2014 

With the explicit purpose of general amusement and with the implicit purpose of his own amusement, Alexandru Dabija (alongside assistant direct Leta Popescu) plays the game of Sânziana and Pepelea at the National Theatre of Cluj. Playfulness and games at the same time, because this highly dynamic and imaginative show - in which the director unleashes the chaos of whimsical associations and ideas - also observes certain implicit rules which determine its course, ensuring its coherence and clear direction.   

                                                Mircea Sorin Rusu, Sânziana, Pepela, Ivan și Dabija - Sânziana și Pepelea și Absolut! / Sânziana, Pepelea, Ivan and Dabija - Sânziana and Pepelea and Absolutely!,
on LiterNet.ro, January 16^th 2015

Dabija's show, produced at the National Theatre of Cluj, is a musical fairy-tale resembling a comic opera, which manages to become a true "national extravaganza", being both contemporary and faithful to the original; it is a parody, a comedy, a satire, a musical, a piece of social theatre and an opera bouffe. 

                                    Cristina Petrescu, Sânziana și Pepelea, feerie națională de Alecsandri și Dabija / Sânziana and Pepelea, a National Extravaganza by Alecsandri and Dabija,
on Bookaholic.ro, November 4^th 2014