All stories by Rob Weinert-Kendt on BroadwayStars

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

I Could Laugh Out Loud by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Jay Armstrong Johnson, Tony Yazbeck, Clyde AlvesIf I were "officially" reviewing the new Broadway revival of On the Town for hire, I would probably be required to note some of its flaws…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 08:55AM
Thursday, October 9, 2014

Trusty Sidekick Presents Immersive Pieces at Park Ave. Armory by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Two new immersive pieces at the Park Avenue Armory have young audiences make their way through the building’s grand rooms.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48PM

FoS, Bonus Track 1: The Subtle Distinctions by Rob Weinert-Kendt

As I learned in my reporting on the new musical of Jonathan Lethem's novel The Fortress of Solitude, Lethem made a two-CD "mixtape" for supplementary listening when the book was published in…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 12:27PM

Fortress Goes Public by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The cast of The Fortress of Solitude at Dallas Theater Center (photo by Karen Almond)I've been hearing about this Fortress of Solitude musical for nearly as long as it's been in de…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 12:11PM

‘The Fortress of Solitude’ Arrives as a Musical by Rob Weinert-Kendt

“The Fortress of Solitude,” a musical based on Jonathan Lethem’s novel, features music influenced by its setting in the 1970s and early 1980s.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:04PM
Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The Annoying Guy at the Party by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I've heard from colleagues that sometimes they don't really know what they think until someone asks them--whether in the context of teaching a course explicating what they do, or just in the…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 05:14AM
Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Untangling the Web by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Today my employer American Theatre joins the 21st century and debuts a fully functioning, up-to-the-minute website, Americantheatre.org (apparently "americantheater.org" also takes you there…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 10:00AM
Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Alive At Last by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The New York Philharmonic's live concert staging of Sondheim's masterpiece Sweeney Todd will be broadcast on PBS stations on Sept. 26. I had the privilege of covering the show for curre…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 01:12PM
Thursday, September 11, 2014

From the Review Vaults: The Color Purple, 2005 by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I felt pretty lonely back in 2005, when as the critic for Broadway.com I raved about the musical version of The Color Purple. My colleagues were largely unimpressed, as you can see here. So …

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 10:28AM
Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Tom Stoppard’s “Indian Ink” Finally Comes to New York by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Inside the play’s long-awaited Off-Broadway debut — Tom Stoppard’s characters are seldom at a loss for words, and the chatty creatures of Indian Ink are no exception, debat…

SOURCE: TDF at 05:54PM
Friday, August 29, 2014

Too Much Freedom to Fail by Rob Weinert-Kendt

There's been a fair amount of rumbling from L.A. theater folks I know and/or follow via the indispensable site Bitter Lemons about a coming "war" over the long-contested Equity 99-Seat Plan.…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 12:39PM
Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Play On by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I've mentioned it a few times in this space, but it's official now: Today is the release of a CD I helped make with my old film-school and campus newspaper colleague Susan Lambert: O Baby Mi…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 11:25AM
Monday, August 11, 2014

The Word Word by Rob Weinert-Kendt

My first exposure to Dennis Miles' work was inauspicious: His one-act Rosa Mundy, about a strange young woman who alternately lusted for and killed visitors to her lonely home, was staged as…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 08:44PM
Friday, August 8, 2014

Iceland Follies by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I spent a fascinating afternoon a few weeks ago at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village talking to some unfailingly gracious Icelanders, and a few slightly baffled American actors, …

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 10:49AM

Hope at NOTE by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Ballinger and NithapalanI had the pleasure of breaking bread (larb, actually) with Erik Patterson yesterday. He's an L.A.-based playwright whose work I admired more than a decade ago at Thea…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 10:35AM
Thursday, August 7, 2014

A Cautionary Musical About 2008 Takes Creative Leaps by Rob Weinert-Kendt

“Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter” is an allegorical tale about economic crisis that’s set in, well, an elbow.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:05PM
Monday, July 7, 2014

Tough Deal by Rob Weinert-Kendt

My heart sank early and often last week at the City Center concert rendition of Randy Newman’s Faust, but never so low as when Newman muffed one of his own best lines. That he was onstage …

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 02:59PM
Thursday, July 3, 2014

Familiar Strangers by Rob Weinert-Kendt

One challenge of my job trying to cover theater with a national perspective, both at American Theatre and, to a certain degree, at the NY Times, is how to keep tabs on work I can't actually …

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 12:16PM

Finding the Balance in ‘Sex With Strangers’ by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The writer and director of “Sex With Strangers,” opening at the Second Stage Theater, have sought to excavate the inner strength in the wounded female character.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:03PM
Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Newman's Own by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I'll be at tonight's one-night-only concert reading of Randy Newman's Faust with bells on. (How 'bout you, George Hunka?) I'd noted the possibility that the show would finally get a hearing …

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 12:07PM
Thursday, June 26, 2014

It Can Be Arranged by Rob Weinert-Kendt

photo by Caitlin McNaneyA few years ago, a musical theater colleague of mine told me that someone named "Glen Kelly" was the guy who really wrote the scores of The Producers and Young Franke…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 01:07PM

The Arranger Glen Kelly Knows the Broadway Score by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Glen Kelly, whose Broadway work this season includes “Bullets Over Broadway” and “Aladdin,” is one musical arranger who knows the score.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:57PM
Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Catch-Up Catch-All by Rob Weinert-Kendt

I'm just back from the TCG Conference in San Diego last week--my fourth ever, and despite (or perhaps because of) the perfectly sunny but cool weather in my beloved, much-missed Southern Cal…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 04:36PM
Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Snapshot | Andy Manley: Andy Manley’s Approach to Children’s Theater by Rob Weinert-Kendt

The Scottish writer-performer Andy Manley returns to the New Victory Theater with a show aimed at the 8-and-older set about a close schoolyard friendship shattered by peer pressure.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:41PM
Friday, May 30, 2014

Owe, That's Us by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Chris Myers and Danny Wolohan in An Octoroon"I rarely hope for my writing to have any effect. But I confess that I hope this piece makes people feel a certain kind of way." -Ta-Nehisi Coates…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 04:51PM

Stalkers by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Blogging has been light for much the same reasons as I noted here, but I feel I should catch readers up with my extra-curricular work.I interviewed Norm Lewis, Broadway's first black Phantom…

SOURCE: The Wicked Stage at 11:21AM
Wednesday, April 30, 2014

For Broadway’s First Black Phantom, a Dream Fulfilled by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Norm Lewis, the first black actor to play the title role in “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, has longed to tackle the part for years.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:59PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime