All stories by Kelly Kleiman on BroadwayStars

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Displacement and determination by Kelly Kleiman

Refuge, the wrenching portrait of a Central American woman’s effort to reach the U.S. receiving its midwest premiere at Theo Ubique, is less a play than a ritual with music […] The post …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:04AM
Thursday, October 13, 2022

Too many Marys by Kelly Kleiman

Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury had too many things in mind when she wrote this play about Mary Seacole, a real-life Jamaican-born healer who improbably served in the 19th-century Crimean W…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:49PM
Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Elderberry wine in new bottles by Kelly Kleiman

Long before the term “meta” entered common parlance there was Arsenic and Old Lace, a 1939 play by Joseph Kesselring about how plays are ridiculous. It’s also a play about […] The po…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:13PM
Thursday, September 8, 2022

Cool Kids vs. Normies by Kelly Kleiman

If you didn’t know that Noël Coward was an actor as well as a playwright, you’d figure it out within minutes of seeing any of his plays: how else to […] The post Cool Kids vs. Normies…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 04:10PM
Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Teaching to the test by Kelly Kleiman

If National Merit had to be pitched as a movie, it would be “The Breakfast Club in a test prep class.” Competing for high scores and the scholarship that goes […] The post Teaching to …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:16PM
Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Great Altercations needs alterations by Kelly Kleiman

There are half a dozen exceptionally talented individuals in the new Second City e.t.c. revue, Great Altercations. But that turns out to be a problem: they remain individuals rather than for…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:35PM
Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Heat in August by Kelly Kleiman

It is a truth universally acknowledged that it’s actually harder to write a rave review than it is to write a pan. How to communicate the thrill of seeing a show that’s just exactly what…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:28AM
Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Choice debates by Kelly Kleiman

Natalie Y. Moore’s play The Billboard, now in a world premiere with 16th Street Theater, is subtitled “A Play About Abortion.” In the spirit of Chicago improv, allow me to say: Yes, an…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:10AM
Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Diner dialogues by Kelly Kleiman

This is an impeccable production of a play whose weaknesses outweigh its considerable strengths. It’s the 1960s episode of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, tracing a century of life in …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 01:06PM
Thursday, May 12, 2022

People who need people by Kelly Kleiman

When everyone on the stage is excellent, it shows a director fully in command of the material. That’s the case with Cody Estle’s production of The Luckiest by Melissa Ross, receiving its…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 07:00AM
Tuesday, March 10, 2020

What the Constitution Means to Me means a lot for all of us by Kelly Kleiman

Heidi Schreck weaves together civics, feminism, and personal history in this vital production. At the very start of What the Constitution Means to Me, author Hei…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:05PM
Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Day of Absence gets a rare revival with Congo Square by Kelly Kleiman

Douglas Turner Ward's 1965 satirical one-act holds more historic than contemporary interest. Day of Absence is a show with one joke and two audiences. The joke i…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:50PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards