All stories by Dean Yannias on BroadwayStars

Thursday, May 5, 2016

"The Pericles Project" by Dean Yannias

We follow them from week one, when they are reading the script for the first time and devising backstories for their characters; to week two, when they start acting with each other, scripts …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:29PM
Sunday, May 24, 2015

The Dolls Premiere "Angels of Light: The Practically True Story of The Cockettes" by Dean Yannias

His way into the story is through an elderly Cockette, Juju (played by Ansloan), reminiscing to a young student (Bryan Andrew Lambe) who is doing research on the group. The student then take…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:34AM
Thursday, January 15, 2015

Aux Dog "Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play" by Dean Yannias

... if almost all of what we call our "culture" were suddenly lost to us, how would we create it anew? This is the premise of Anne Washburn's ingenious and sort of brilliant play Mr. Burns, …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:57PM
Wednesday, August 20, 2014

"James Cady's Hamlet" in Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

The title James Cady's Hamlet might sound pretentious or vainglorious, but Jim Cady, the director, really does deserve his name on the marquee for this show. The words are Shakespeare's, but…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:23AM
Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Albuquerque's Desert Rose Playhouse Takes on "One Man, Two Guvnors" by Dean Yannias

But nobody cares about the plot. It's just the scaffolding for a manic run of gags and physical comedy and song and dance and a little audience participation.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:12AM
Thursday, April 24, 2014

Vortex "Fat Pig" by Dean Yannias

LaBute has the best ear for colloquial conversation�in a certain stratum of society, at least: office workers, city dwellers, factory guys, not too rich, not too poor.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:39AM
Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Adobe "My Favorite Year" by Dean Yannias

Here, they have rescued the musical version of My Favorite Year from the brink of oblivion.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:31PM
Friday, February 14, 2014

Vortex "Jerusalem" by Dean Yannias

When Rooster talks to his son or to his son's mother or to an abusive stepfather, you see how good a writer Butterworth can be.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:54AM
Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Albuquerque "Pack of Lies" by Dean Yannias

In today's post-Edward Snowden America, if a man from the government showed up at your door and asked for your help in conducting surveillance on your best friends, you'd probably tell him t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:11PM
Wednesday, November 27, 2013

"Man of La Mancha" in Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

The more I think about Man of La Mancha, the more impressed I am by the achievement of Wasserman, Leigh, and Darion. And of Paul Ford (an Albuquerque legend, directing his first musical) and…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:51PM
Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Duke City "Gaslight" by Dean Yannias

Director Amelia Ampuero and her excellent cast have roasted this old chestnut into something quite flavorful.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:05PM
Saturday, September 28, 2013

"Is He Dead?" by Dean Yannias

This production is very good in almost all respects. As I have come to expect from the Adobe Theater, the set (by Brian Hansen and Antonia Cardella), the props (Nina Dorrance), and the costu…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:05PM
Friday, September 13, 2013

Albuquerque "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" by Dean Yannias

Despite the fact that all four major Chekhov plays are alluded to, it is not a pastiche or a parody of Chekhov, but resolutely contemporary and American and even somewhat touching. V

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:49PM
Sunday, September 1, 2013

"The Seven Year Itch" in Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

If all you know is the movie (and isn't that all that anyone knows now?), I think you will be surprised by the play, and you'll have the fun seeing live theater too.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:31PM
Saturday, August 24, 2013

Aux Dog "Hedda" by Dean Yannias

The new version by the Irish playwright Brian Friel feels not like he's dusting off some fusty old thing, but like a contemporary play.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:37AM
Friday, August 2, 2013

Musical Theatre Southwest "The Pajama Game" by Dean Yannias

I don't know if there's a way to get the younger generation interested in musicals like The Pajama Game, but I'll try: See this show, no matter what your age. You'll have a good time.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:40PM
Friday, July 19, 2013

"Carousel" Landmark Musicals in Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

And you should see it, for the high production values and so you can be singing "If I Loved You" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" for the next week. Myself, I can't get the "Carousel Waltz" out…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:46AM
Friday, April 19, 2013

Albuquerque Little Theatre "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by Dean Yannias

In his 1972 book Memoirs, Tennessee Williams says that when people ask him which among his plays is his favorite, "I either say to them, 'Always the latest' or I succumb to my instinct for t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:13AM
Friday, March 29, 2013

"The Motherf**ker with the Hat" in Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

It's a New York City play, but it could be anywhere in America. Jackie has just gotten out of prison after a two year stint upstate, is visiting his cokehead girlfriend Veronica back in the …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:26PM
Saturday, February 23, 2013

Albuquerque's Aux Dog Theatre - "tick, tick�... BOOM!" by Dean Yannias

Should you give up this crazy idea of being an artist and go for the money instead? Isn't it time to settle down, or will you keep plugging away at a career in which the odds are not in your…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:29PM
Thursday, February 14, 2013

"The Seagull" at Albuquerque's Vortex Theatre by Dean Yannias

Chekhov subtitled it a comedy, but should we take him at his word, or was he being ironic?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:43PM
Sunday, October 28, 2012

Adobe Theater Premieres "The Jewel in the Manuscript" by Dean Yannias

You can't tell from the title, but the play is about Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the month of October 1866.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:35PM
Friday, October 19, 2012

"November" at Albuquerque's Vortex Theatre by Dean Yannias

I thought I was going to hate this show, David Mamet's November, but I ended up having one of the most laugh-out-loud enjoyable nights at the theater in recent memory.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:51PM
Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Kennedy Center Lauded "Ash Tree" in Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

The play is directed by the author, and she has brought together a good cast and crew to actualize, I presume, her vision of what she had written.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:57AM
Wednesday, October 3, 2012

"Metamorphoses" at UNM by Dean Yannias

I thought I knew just about everything there is to know of the Greek myths until I saw this production of Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:59AM
Thursday, September 6, 2012

Talkin' Broadway Regional News & Reviews, Albuquerque - "The Sleeper" - 9/6/12 by Dean Yannias

I know next to nothing about Catherine Butterfield, but based on this script, I wonder why her work is not produced more often. The Sleeper is a comedic take on the paranoia that gripped the…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:15PM
Wednesday, July 11, 2012

"Angel Street" at Albuquerque's Adobe Theater by Dean Yannias

Angel Street, a 1938 play by British writer Patrick Hamilton, is one of those plays that likely would be forgotten by now if it had not been made into a movie.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:04AM
Friday, January 13, 2012

"A Shot Away: Personal Accounts of Military Sexual Trauma" by Dean Yannias

What "A Shot Away" teaches us about is MST. Don't know what MST is? Neither did I. Military Sexual Trauma.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:29AM
Saturday, December 10, 2011

"Cat on a Streetcar Named Iguana" at Adobe Theater by Dean Yannias

As the title makes plain, this "Cat" is a comedic amalgamation of several of the canonical Williams plays.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:20PM
Thursday, November 17, 2011

"On Golden Pond" - Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

A lot of credit should go to Vernon Poitras, the director (and, in effect, the Enchanted Rose Theater personified), for assembling a very capable cast and crew, for putting on a good show, a…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:04PM
Wednesday, October 19, 2011

"Home" - Vortex Theater in Albuquerque by Dean Yannias

Does it have a plot? Hardly. Does it leave questions unanswered? Yes. Is the dialogue derivative? Yes. Is there any hope for the characters? Not really. Is the play therefore depressing? Not…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:49PM

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