All stories by Duane Barnes on BroadwayStars

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Review: The Shipment (Red Tape Theatre) by Duane Barnes

I saw Red Tape Theatre's The Shipment with two companions and we left the theater asking each other, What was the author saying?” This play, written by Young Jean Lee, a Korean-American pl…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:48PM
Sunday, July 15, 2018

Review: Sickle (Red Theater Chicago) by Duane Barnes

Abbey Fenbert’s play Sickle at Red Theater is important as it brings to light another horror of a different kind of war, an unwanted assimilation of an entire country’s population and pr…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:04PM
Monday, December 11, 2017

Review: Beautiful (Broadway in Chicago, 2017) by Duane Barnes

Throwback Thursday review - Lights! Action! Music! With that beginning, Carole King (played by local actress Sarah Bockel) takes us on a musical ride through her life, highs and lows, wins a…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:06PM
Saturday, December 2, 2017

Review: Wedding Band (The Artistic Home) by Duane Barnes

Alice Childress's classic play Wedding Band, a tragic love story of interracial love set in 1918 South Carolina, is marvelously done, the cast doing a superb job of employing the dialect of …

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:12PM
Saturday, October 14, 2017

Review: The Heavens Are Hung in Black (Shattered Globe Theatre) by Duane Barnes

Heavens is a powerful play, wonderfully cast, brilliantly directed, beautifully played by an outstanding ensemble of talented actors. It centers around a pivotal period of the Civil War in 1…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:18PM
Monday, July 24, 2017

Review: "BLACK!" (Athenaeum Theatre) by Duane Barnes

Michael Washington Brown opens his evening with a question to the audience - Why am I now African-American when for so many years, I’ve been Black? From there, listening in rapt attention…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:33PM
Saturday, July 8, 2017

Review: Ragtime (Griffin Theatre) by Duane Barnes

Ragtime comprises an era, a jumble of hopes and dreams, energetic music, disasters, collisions , and a story of love, hope and tragedy. Its host, Griffin Theatre, is an ensemble of talented …

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:54PM
Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Review: Water & Power (UrbanTheater Company) by Duane Barnes

Great gifts can come in small packages. Likewise, great plays can come in small theaters. UrbanTheater Company's Water & Power is one of those great gifts. A tale of two brothers, non-i…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:06PM
Monday, December 19, 2016

Review: Christmas at Christine’s (Silk Road Rising) by Duane Barnes

The holidays can be a hectic time, but thankfully Silk Road Rising offers some respite in the diminutive and lively persona of Christine Bunuan, who guides you through her world-premiere one…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:18PM

Review: It’s A Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! (American Blues Theater, 2016) by Duane Barnes

For 15 years, American Blues Theater has treated Chicago audiences to a live 1940s radio broadcast of holiday favorite, It’s a Wonderful Life. The show is always a timely and entertaining …

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:12PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Review: [Trans]formation (Nothing Without A Company) by Duane Barnes

The goal of world-premiere [Trans]formation, co-produced and co-developed by Nothing Without A Company and The Living Campus, was to celebrate the diversity of identity, to have the spectato…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 02:42PM
Thursday, November 17, 2016

Review: Rutherford’s Travels (Pegasus Theatre Chicago) by Duane Barnes

Filled with fights, shipwrecks, mutiny and requited love, Rutherford’s Travels resembles an action movie. Based on the award-winning novel *Middle Passage* by Charles Johnson, the play was…

SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:24PM

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