All stories by Andrea Simakis on BroadwayStars

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Made in Cleveland: BW grad Chris McCarrell sees a familiar face after matinee of 'Les Miz' (photo essay) by Andrea Simakis

"Les Miz's" Chris McCarrell and BW's Victoria Bussert: A Broadway reunion made in Cleveland.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 12:36PM
Saturday, April 11, 2015

Made in Cleveland: the first look at the 2015 Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre Showcase (video) by Andrea Simakis

An exclusive first look at the 2015 Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre Showcase.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 12:33PM
Friday, April 10, 2015

Made in Cleveland: Our theater diva checks in with Northeast Ohio stars who jumped to Broadway (photos) by Andrea Simakis

If you want a Broadway fix without spending the cash for an overpriced plane ticket and monastic cell of a hotel, check back at cleveland.com/onstage and follow me as I head to New York to s…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 03:15PM
Thursday, April 9, 2015

'Kinky Boots' at Playhouse Square kicks up a glorious, giddy sense of gender-bending fun by Andrea Simakis

"Kinky's Tony-nominated costumes are as gloriously gaudy as those in "La Cage aux Folles," only trashier and less arty, with higher hemlines. (Let's just say we're glad Lola a…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 10:00AM
Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The revenge fantasy 'Extremities,' now at Blank Canvas Theatre, remains both hard to watch and as timely as ever by Andrea Simakis

Before there was The Bride - Uma Thurman in a yellow tracksuit dispatching a forest of baddies with her samurai sword to avenge her dead love in "Kill Bill" - there was Marjorie, c…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:00AM
Monday, April 6, 2015

'The Tempest' headlines Cleveland theater openings for week of April 6: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

"Night at the Museum" actor Bill Cobbs leads a master class at Karamu Theatre Saturday and Sunday.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 12:00PM
Saturday, April 4, 2015

Christopher Durang is glad you asked, but he's not the Vanya of his 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,' coming to the Cleveland Play House by Andrea Simakis

"I wrote the play specifically, I hope, so that people who don't know Chekhov can still enjoy it," says Christopher Durang of his Tony-winning comedy "Vanya and Sonia and Mash…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:00AM
Tuesday, March 31, 2015

KeyBank Broadway Series 2015-16 lineup features 'A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder,' 'Matilda' and a revamped 'Phantom of the Opera' by Andrea Simakis

Also in the 2015-16 KeyBank Broadway Series line up: "Bullets Over Broadway" and "If/Then."

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 07:59PM
Monday, March 30, 2015

'Extremities' headlines Cleveland theater openings for week of March 30: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

"Extremities" at Blank Canvas Theatre and Theater Ninjas' "The Grand Celebration of the Celestial Mystery" open in Cleveland this weekend.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 12:00PM
Sunday, March 29, 2015

New Ground Theatre Festival at Cleveland Play House to feature Eric Coble world premiere, Ken Ludwig reading by Andrea Simakis

CPH's New Ground Theatre Festival will take place May 6-16 inside the Allen Theatre complex in Playhouse Square.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 06:00AM
Saturday, March 28, 2015

Dobama Theatre 2015-16 lineup features Tony darling 'Peter and the Starcatcher,' absurdist Broadway gem 'The Realistic Joneses' and a runway ready 'Ma by Andrea Simakis

Dobama Theatre brings Jesse Eisenberg's "The Revisionist" and more to Cleveland for its 2015-16 season.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 10:45AM
Thursday, March 26, 2015

'Teacher of the Year' - sweet, gonzo comedy offers a hall pass to laughs: Cleveland International Film Festival 2015 by Andrea Simakis

"Teacher of the Year" is a grade above most high school comedies that trade on sexualized teens, a laugh-out-loud, sweetly-irreverent-but-never-raunchy look at education from the i…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 06:00AM
Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Convergence-Continuum's 'Isaac's Eye' asks why Sir Isaac Newton stuck a needle in his eye. (Review) by Andrea Simakis

Isaac Newton Newton stuck a needle in his eye - sliding it into the tear duct, to be exact - but no one knows why. "Isaac's Eye is playwright Lucas Hnath's fanciful attempt to answer th…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 11:02AM
Monday, March 23, 2015

'Lend Me a Tenor' headlines Cleveland theater openings for week of March 23: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

'Lend Me a Tenor' opens this weekend at the Beck Center for the Arts.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:17AM
Sunday, March 22, 2015

'Move On!' - Near West Theatre says goodbye to its historic space with laughter, tears and one fabulous drag queen: Cleveland International Film Festi by Andrea Simakis

The young actors of Near West Theatre hug and cry and emote on a dime. They are dream subjects, theatrical on and off the stage.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 06:00AM
Saturday, March 21, 2015

Cleveland Play House 2015-16 centennial lineup features Ken Ludwig's world-premiere 'A Comedy of Tenors,' Rajiv Joseph's 'Mr. Wolf' and more by Andrea Simakis

Two-time Tony Award winner Ken Ludwig, celebrated actor and director Austin Pendleton and playwright Rajiv Joseph, a Pulitzer Prize finalist from Cleveland Heights are just some of the talen…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 11:15AM
Thursday, March 19, 2015

'WildLike'; gorgeous, moving film follows a troubled teen into the Alaskan wilderness: Cleveland International Film Festival 2015 by Andrea Simakis

"WildLike" is a taut, emotional drama rich with subtle performances and an exquisite turn by British actress Ella Purnell ""Never Let Me Go" and "Maleficent&quo…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 06:00AM
Monday, March 16, 2015

"Isaac's Eye" headlines Cleveland theater openings for week of March 16: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

"Isaac's Eye" opens at Convergence-Continuum this weekend.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 10:33AM
Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Murky motives, deft acting and a killer script make for a tour de force 'Becky Shaw' at Dobama Theatre by Andrea Simakis

Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw is both victim and destroyer, ruinous and ruined, a woman trying to hide her damage behind a frozen, first-date smile.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 12:18PM
Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Karamu's world-premiere production of 'The Mighty Scarabs!' is a triumph of pointed writing and powerful acting by Andrea Simakis

"The Mighty Scarabs!" is a skillful collision of reality and fiction, a funny, lyrical and mournful exploration of what happens to hardwood stars. boys feted as heroes by blacks an…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:00AM
Monday, March 9, 2015

'Possum Dreams' off-Broadway preview headlines Northeast Ohio theater openings for week of March 9: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

Catch "Possum Dreams" at Akron's None Too Fragile Theater this weekend before the show heads to new York for its off-Broadway premiere.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 12:50PM
Saturday, March 7, 2015

'Dirty Dancing' at Playhouse Square is loud, broad, brassy - and like the movie, virtually critic-proof by Andrea Simakis

At times, "Dirty Dancing" takes on a playful new life onstage, winkingly exploiting its irresistibly cheesy charm.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 10:42AM

'The Pianist of Willesden Lane' at the Cleveland Play House is a moving tribute to the children saved from the Holocaust by Andrea Simakis

Much of this moving, never less-than-engrossing play "The Pianist of Willesden Lane" that opened at the Allen Theatre Wednesday is told in the minor key -- sad, yes, but also haunt…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:09AM
Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Great Lakes Theater's 'Dial "M" for Murder' gleams, but there's too little life beneath the surface sheen by Andrea Simakis

Though director Charles Fee delivers an elegant production buffed to a high shine, this "Dial 'M' " isn't as nimble as Knott's wily villain.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 08:43AM
Monday, March 2, 2015

"Dirty Dancing" headlines Cleveland theater openings for week of March 2: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

"Dirty Dancing," "The Pianist of Willesden Lane," "Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays," "Becky Shaw" and "The Mighty Scarabs" ope…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 03:53PM
Saturday, February 28, 2015

Eleanor Bergstein wants you to have the time of your life at the live stage version of 'Dirty Dancing,' now headed to Cleveland by Andrea Simakis

"I was a teenage mambo queen, which was our alternate title if we lost 'Dirty Dancing.' " says Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the screenplay for the 1987 smash. (In case people thoug…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:00AM
Thursday, February 26, 2015

Great Lakes Theater aims to keep us on the edge of our seats with the classic thriller 'Dial "M" for Murder' by Andrea Simakis

Set in the chic confines of the Wendices' London flat, "Dial 'M,' " - immortalized on-screen in 1954 by Alfred Hitchcock, and in 3-D, no less - positively oozes with glamour and er…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:00AM
Monday, February 23, 2015

'Dial 'M' for Murder' headlines Cleveland theater openings for week of Feb. 23: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

"Dial 'M' for Murder" and "Philadelphia Story" open this week in Playhouse Square.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 09:51AM
Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Two feuding Irish brothers strip emotions to the bone in None Too Fragile Theater's 'The Lonesome West' by Andrea Simakis

The None Too Fragile production of "The Lonesome West" is some of the best theater you'll see this season. But be warned: Potato chips, household appliances and organized religion …

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 03:14PM
Monday, February 16, 2015

'Mark Twain Tonight!' headlines Cleveland theater openings for week of Feb. 16: On the Boards by Andrea Simakis

Hal Holbrook brings Mark Twain to life at the Connor Palace at Playhouse Square.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 03:13PM
Friday, February 13, 2015

Brisk pacing, great casting enliven the Karamu Theatre production of 'Joe Turner's Come and Gone' by Andrea Simakis

"Joe Turner's Come and Gone," directed with a sure hand and a winning coach's eye for team building by Terrence Spivey, is as skillfully rendered and solid as the oak trim around t…

SOURCE: Cleveland.com at 02:56PM

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 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic