All stories by Kevin Greene on BroadwayStars

Friday, May 6, 2016

Review: Taste/Red Theater Chicago by Kevin Greene

While watching “Taste” you won’t know whether to laugh or cringe. In other dramatic circumstances this might be considered a virtue. However in Red Theater’s production, Benjamin…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 10:00AM
Thursday, May 5, 2016

 Review: Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf: A Parody/ Writers Theatre and The Second City by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED What do you get when you take the dramatic sensibilities of Writers Theatre and mix it up with the comedic instincts of The Second City? The answer is a slick, funny and refreshi…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 07:00PM

Review: Mike Mother/The Neo-Futurists by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Jessica Anne is a tactful truth-teller, performance artist and oathbreaker; Mike Hamilton is the best actor she knows. “Mike Mother” is ninety minutes of being locked in a r…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 02:30PM
Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Review: Once in a Lifetime/Strawdog Theatre Company by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED At first glance, the 1930s showbiz comedy “Once in a Lifetime” may seem like an odd choice for Strawdog Theatre Company’s final mainstage production in their home on Broadw…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 04:30PM

Review: Pygmalion/Rogue Theater by Kevin Greene

Last Friday night I went to see Shaw’s 1914 towering tragic-comic masterpiece presented in a “black box” theater on the fourth floor of a warehouse. Experience told me that “Pyg…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 10:00AM
Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Review: Dreamgirls/Porchlight Music Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED There are some musicals that come with the burden of great expectation. “Dreamgirls,” which made its Broadway debut in 1981, is one such example. The heart-stopping performan…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 05:00PM
Monday, May 2, 2016

Opening This Week: May 2-8, 2016 by Kevin Greene

Monday “Once in a Lifetime” at Strawdog Theatre Company. Kaufman and Hart’s classic comedy marks Strawdog’s final show at their Broadway home before their move to …

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM
Sunday, May 1, 2016

Review: Dry Land/Rivendell Theatre Ensemble by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Nobody wants the responsibility of telling kids about sex. That’s evidenced in the squeamish way the subject is handled in mainstream media as well as the biologically-centered…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 02:00PM
Saturday, April 30, 2016

Review: Connected/Collaboraction by Kevin Greene

In celebration of their twentieth anniversary, Collaboraction mounts a production as grand in scale as humanly possible. Spanning the birth of the universe to post-apocalyptic America, “Co…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM

Stage Top 5: May 1-May 15, 2016 by Kevin Greene

1 Mary Page Marlowe (Steppenwolf Theatre Company) An extraordinary look at an ordinary life 2 RockCitizen (The Seldoms) Social movements, athletic dancing and rock ‘n’ roll 3 Oth…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 10:30AM
Friday, April 29, 2016

Creating Windows When Doors Are Shut: An Interview with Melissa DuPrey, Free Street Theater’s New General Manager by Kevin Greene

By Loy Webb Actor and comic Melissa DuPrey has a passion for arts, activism and community building that is as large and deep as the Pacific Ocean. Her story is one of terror and triumph. Fro…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Review: In the Heat of the Night/Shattered Globe Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Everybody talks about the passing of the American Dream but what about the persistence of the American Nightmare? The latter unfolds in black and white, a violent and never-endin…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 10:00AM
Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Review: A Splintered Soul/ARLA Productions by Kevin Greene

“A Splintered Soul” is among the more cynically calculating plays I’ve seen. Playwright Alan Lester Brooks starts with a crime story straight out of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazi…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 04:00PM

Review: The Producers/Mercury Theater of Chicago by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Have you ever had a dream? A fantasy? A certain frisson of something fabulous to come? A big vision, a prophecy of something monumental, transcendent, opulent? Beyond that, do wh…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM
Thursday, April 21, 2016

Review: Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train/Eclipse Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Stephen Adly Guirgis got his break in 2000 with “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train,” a play that in 2016 feels distressingly timeles…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 11:00AM
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Review: Sender/A Red Orchid Theatre by Kevin Greene

Currently receiving its world premiere at A Red Orchid, Ike Holter’s “Sender” scrapes the bottom of the millennial barrel for inspiration. What it dredges up is grody and a shade des…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM

Review: Don’t Make Me Over (In Tribute to Dionne Warwick)/Black Ensemble Theater by Kevin Greene

Our memory can have a mind of its own. For example, our remembrance of things past sometimes involves things that never happened or—at the least—didn’t really happen the way we “reca…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 10:00AM
Monday, April 18, 2016

Review: The Realm/The Other Theatre Company by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Sarah Myers’ “The Realm” is not a perfect play but it is a perfect fit for the tiny Side Project space. Myers’ imaginative but unfinished portrait of a dystopian futu…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 04:00PM

Opening This Week: April 18-24, 2016 by Kevin Greene

Monday “Sender” at A Red Orchid Theatre. Local playwright Ike Holter examines whether growing up is even worth it. Through May 29. For tickets and more information visit aredor…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM
Sunday, April 17, 2016

Review: Othello: The Remix/Chicago Shakespeare Theater by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED William Shakespeare was the son of a leatherworker. Billy Shakes slanged the lingo with diction and confabulations like swagger, invulnerable, assassination, dexterous, madcap, m…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 03:00PM
Saturday, April 16, 2016

Review: The Few/Steep Theatre Company by Kevin Greene

Samuel D. Hunter has established himself as one of the great chroniclers of the heartland. He locates bountiful riches in both the endless stretches of untamed earth and splotches of modern …

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 10:00AM
Thursday, April 14, 2016

Rutherford Sails Again: Pegasus Theatre Adapts Dr. Charles Johnson’s “Middle Passage” by Kevin Greene

By Loy Webb Dr. Charles Johnson is more than an author. He is a literary icon. His historical novel “Middle Passage,” about the final voyage of an illegal American slave ship, has been i…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Review: How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients/Trap Door Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED “How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients” is a strange organism. Despite the clear artifice, with design inspired by propaganda and all movement discipline…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM

Review: The Misanthrope/Piccolo Theatre by Kevin Greene

As a cultural critique, much of the spark that made “The Misanthrope” work in the seventeenth century is extinguished. This is partly because Martin Crimp’s decision to emigrate Molie…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 10:00AM
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Review: Carlyle/Goodman Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED When we hear about a play being provocative we generally assume that any reactions it piques usually occur internally. Save for the occasional murmur of approval, the fourth wa…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 04:00PM

Review: Jesen and Wit/Reutan Collective and The Public House Theatre by Kevin Greene

“Jensen & Wit” is about a super cute lesbian couple who’re trying to conceive and get married. Naturally there are obstacles such as outdated homophobic prejudices. To make things…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 01:00PM
Monday, April 11, 2016

Review: Hazel, A Musical Maid in America/Drury Lane Theatre by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED Hazel, that spunky maid with more heart than tact, was first introduced to the public as a single-panel cartoon in 1943. Immensely popular, the cartoon later became a sitcom sta…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 06:00PM

Review: Hillary and Clinton/Victory Gardens Theater by Kevin Greene

When you write and stage a play about famous people, you’re taking a big gamble. Your audiences will not only expect the usual strong storytelling of any good drama but also demand authent…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 03:00PM

Review: Mary Page Marlowe/Steppenwolf Theatre Company by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED The quality that has solidified Tracy Letts’ reputation as a contemporary playwrighting master is his unwillingness to be put into a literary box. From his debut play ̶…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 12:00PM

Opening This Week: April 11-17, 2016 by Kevin Greene

Monday “Carlyle” at Goodman Theatre. Playwright Thomas Bradshaw takes aim at both sides of the political establishment. Through May 1. For tickets and more information visit go…

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 08:00AM
Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Review: Heathers: The Musical/Kokandy Productions by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED What do I remember about high school? Traversing hallways between class and hearing gossip that would transform into a miasma of rumors about you. The friends you have aren’t …

SOURCE: www.newcitystage.com at 04:00PM

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