All stories by Rob Weinert-Kendt on BroadwayStars

Monday, July 13, 2015

How Bent Made Gay History by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Tom Bell and Ian McKellen in the London premiere of Bent, 1979.A major revival of Martin Sherman's play Bent begins performances on July 15 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, directed b…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 07:50AM
Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Up With Hamilton by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I was recently contracted to write a preview of the Broadway transfer of Hamilton for Time Out NY, but the piece was spiked in favor of a no-doubt-excellent preview by the estimable Adam Fel…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 11:28AM
Thursday, May 28, 2015

The 11 O'Clock Matrix by Rob Weinert-Kendt

So the Times just had me contemplate the tradition of the Broadway musical's "11 o'clock number," and specifically, whether the great new musical Fun Home has one in the stunning "…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 07:06PM

In ‘Fun Home,’ a Wife’s Late, Desperate Outcry by Rob Weinert-Kendt

A musical likes the Broadway tradition of an “11 o’clock number” so much, it has more than one.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:19PM
Tuesday, May 26, 2015

"A Free-Ranging, Even Frenetic Power" by Rob Weinert-Kendt

A striking number of people involved in the May 2006 production of columbinus at New York Theatre Workshop went on to have careers I've followed, and/or I've gotten to know: actors Anna …

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 11:45AM
Monday, May 25, 2015

Sort of a Salon, Sort of a Church by ROB WEINERT-KENDT

Once a kind of fortifying ritual for beleaguered theater artists, the Secret City has grown into a half-irreverent, half-earnest blend of revival meeting.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Director’s Fancy Leads to a Tale-Spinning Cat by ROB WEINERT-KENDT

The playwright-director Moisés Kaufman is playing with puppets for his “Puss in Boots” opera.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Lisa Kron - Interview by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The playwright returns to the painful divisive years of the recent Bush regime.

SOURCE: Time Out New York at 05:58PM

Even Stephen by Rob Weinert-Kendt

You've got to hand it to Elisabeth Vincentelli: Of New York's daily critics, she's the only one out there truly blogging. I do admire the Times' Theater Talkback idea, which forces Ben and C…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 05:58PM

Pampered Critics? No, Critics in Pampers by ROB WEINERT-KENDT

Theater for the very young seems to be a growing trend. Three new fathers explore the possibilities.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Clothes Make the Man-Boy by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Designing costumes for Broadway’s The Pee-wee Herman ShowOne night back in 1977, Paul Reubens, a wiry sketch comic at the Los Angeles improv company the Groundlings, came up with the c…

SOURCE: TDF at 05:58PM

Rare Reprises for an Unlikely Collaboration by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s “Knickerbocker Holiday” and “Lost in the Stars” — entirely coincidentally — are back for concert readings i…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM
Friday, May 8, 2015

Catching Up Before Summer by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Dakin Matthews and Helen Mirren in "The Audience." (Photo by Joan Marcus)The Broadway season has come to an end, and while much of the exciting work this past year was Off-Broadway (and ther…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 05:43AM
Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Way Is Clear, the Light Is Good, But It's Not Into the Woods by Rob Weinert-Kendt

My review of the Disney film of Into the Woods is in the current issue of The Sondheim Review, and the editors have graciously allowed me to publish it in full here; it should be said that t…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 06:36AM
Thursday, March 12, 2015

‘Finding Neverland’ and the Pop Heart Inside J. M. Barrie by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Once a member of the boy band Take That, Gary Barlow and his writing partner Eliot Kennedy brought a hit-song sensibility to the score of “Finding Neverland.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:49AM
Sunday, March 1, 2015

Sweating Equity by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The last thing I wrote about the controversy over L.A.’s Equity 99-Seat Plan, for American Theatre magazine, was more personal than the typical news report; I felt I couldn’t help but in…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 10:38PM
Tuesday, February 24, 2015

American (and L.A.) Revolutions by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The rest of 2015 will have a lot to live up to: In quick succession, I've already seen/written about/considered two of the best productions I'll probably see in years, let alone this calenda…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 09:07AM
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The Afterlife of Theater by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Mercedes Reuhl and Bill Pullman in The Goat(photo by Sara Krulwich/NY Times)Bill Pullman said something really interesting in this interview--and it wasn't the fact that he's playing Othello…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 11:08PM
Thursday, February 12, 2015

Would You Have an Affair for the Sake of Your Memoir? by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Anna Camp plays an artist in crisis in Verité — “This play is definitely keeping me up at night,” says Anna Camp, the star of Verité, Nick Jones’s unsettling new co…

SOURCE: TDF at 12:25PM
Thursday, February 5, 2015

Hamilton's New York Moment by Rob Weinert-Kendt

From left, Daveed Diggs, Christopher Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr. from the cast of “Hamilton.” CreditDamon Winter/The New York TimesOne of the most infectious sen…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 11:34AM

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Others From ‘Hamilton’ Talk History by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The composer-performer Lin-Manuel Miranda meets with cast members from his new musical, “Hamilton,” to discuss hip-hop hustle and the founding fathers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00AM
Monday, February 2, 2015

Primed for The Iceman by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Stephen Ouimette and cast in an "Iceman" rehearsal. (Photo by Liz Lauren)I had the great privilege recently of sitting in a Chicago rehearsal room and watching the 18-person cast of the Good…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 06:52AM
Thursday, January 29, 2015

‘The Iceman Cometh’ Stars Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy by Rob Weinert-Kendt

“The Iceman Cometh,” directed by Robert Falls and starring Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy, prepares to come to New York.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00AM
Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Tops of 2014 by Rob Weinert-Kendt

It's been a spotty year of blogging here, got to admit, and only partly due to the October debut of this. And it's hard not to find it sobering that my two most-read post were essentially ob…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 02:26PM

The 99-Seat Plan and Its Discontents by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Most of the theater I've seen in my lifetime, and much of the best of it, has been in Los Angeles. And the great majority of that great theater was produced under what's now called the 99-Se…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 08:37AM
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014

Staged Albums & Ensemble/Bands by Rob Weinert-Kendt

When I wrote this cover story for American Theatre, about how the presence of composer/musicians within their own theater pieces showed hope of changing and revivifying musical theater, I wa…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 11:31AM
Friday, November 28, 2014

What Happened to StageGrade by Rob Weinert-Kendt

You may have been wondering what happened to the review-aggregating site I created with Isaac Butler in 2010. I can spell out the saga in relatively simple terms, with links to help you conn…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 10:51PM
Monday, October 27, 2014

The Last Real Thing by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I'm not a big fan of the current Broadway revival of Stoppard's Coward-esque romcom, but I had seen and, to my recollection, somewhat enjoyed a production of it about a decade ago in L.A., a…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 09:38PM
Tuesday, October 21, 2014

His Rage Is My Rage Too by Rob Weinert-Kendt

How Hari Dhillon channels the anger and revelations in Broadway’s Disgraced — Welcome to Building Character, our ongoing look at performers and how they create their roles ItR…

SOURCE: TDF at 09:05AM
Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Sting and Jimmy Nail on the Musical ‘The Last Ship’ by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Jimmy Nail, who stars in “The Last Ship,” and Sting, who wrote its songs and conceived the show, draw from their hometown, Newcastle-on-Tyne, for inspiration.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:41PM

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