All stories by Zach Freeman on BroadwayStars

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Review: Anna, in the Darkness/Dream Theatre Company by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED More scary than conventional horror is the play that preys upon its audience with an almost plausible storyline, framed by the believable extremism that lurks in the  margins of…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:30PM
Saturday, September 5, 2015

Review: The Rainmaker/American Blues Theater by Zach Freeman

Since it was first produced more than sixty years ago, N. Richard Nash’s “The Rainmaker” has aged into a kind of blanket statement on the condition of being an American. In the twenty-…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:45PM
Thursday, September 3, 2015

Fall Theater & Opera Preview 2015 by Zach Freeman

You know what they say: Every time a mime speaks a Dickensian orphan gets sucked into a jet turbine and blasted out the other side as just a scream. However, it is that cozy time of year whe…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:00AM

Fall Comedy Preview 2015 by Zach Freeman

You know what they say: Every time a mime speaks a Dickensian orphan gets sucked into a jet turbine and blasted out the other side as just a scream. However, it is that cozy time of year whe…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:45AM
Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Cultural Sharing: Visión Latino Theatre Company Debuts with “Yellow Eyes” by Zach Freeman

By Elle Metz On a warm, sunny Tuesday night, the founders of a new theater company have retreated into the cool, dark Jackalope Theatre in Edgewater. The large storefront windows are covered…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:04AM
Sunday, August 30, 2015

Review: Don Chipotle/terraNOVA Collective and The Playground Theater by Zach Freeman

In the world premiere of Juan Francisco Villa’s “Don Chipotle” it’s difficult to distinguish between the real and the fantastical. And while that may work for Cervantes in “Don Qui…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:30PM
Friday, August 28, 2015

Review: The Jacksonian/Profiles Theatre by Zach Freeman

A dark and occasionally funny thriller opens the twenty-seventh season at Profiles Theatre. At first glance, Beth Henley’s “The Jacksonian,” a surreal Southern Gothic tale, seems like …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:45AM
Thursday, August 27, 2015

Review: The Price/TimeLine Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED There’s a scene in Myla Goldberg’s “Bee Season” where a character explores a storage locker. Instead of finding the typical packrat arrangement, he discovers a museum of …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:45AM
Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Review: After Miss Julie/Strawdog Theatre Company by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Strawdog Theatre Company lives up to the theme of their twenty-eighth season, “The Tipping Point,” by thrusting audiences into the basement kitchen of an English aristocrat j…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:10PM
Sunday, August 23, 2015

Review: This House Believes the American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro/Oracle Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED “This House Believes the American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro” is a lengthy title for Zachary Baker-Salmon’s well condensed, seventy-minute adaption of th…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:00AM
Friday, August 21, 2015

Review: The Universal Wolf/Trap Door Theatre by Zach Freeman

I’d like to offer an analogy that I think Joan Schenkar, the rare American playwright at the European-leaning Trap Door Theatre, would approve of: “The Universal Wolf” is theater as ou…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:15PM
Monday, August 17, 2015

Review: Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight/Windy City Playhouse by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Earlier this year Newcity ran a story about the opening of the Windy City Playhouse and the launch of their first season. In it, artistic director Amy Rubenstein called it “the…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 07:45PM

Review: In Love and Warcraft/Halycon Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Before the performance of “In Love and Warcraft” began on Sunday night, one of the show’s actors explained Halcyon Theatre’s philosophy of radical hospitality: the cast, …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PM
Friday, August 14, 2015

Review: The Fly Honey Show/The Inconvenience by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED For the most part, The Inconvenience’s sixth annual “The Fly Honey Show”’s blatantly burlesque and abounding pop cultural references can make it feel specifically millenn…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00PM

Review: #TBT/Under The Gun Theater by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED I’ve never been one to keep a consistent journal, but judging by the expressive content of the readings at Under The Gun Theater’s new monthly show “#TBT,” my infrequent …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:00PM

Review: A Night of Whodunnit/Under The Gun Theater by Zach Freeman

Under The Gun Theater is rife with catchy concepts. Their “Comedy Against Humanity” show was so popular that – despite an informal agreement – Cards Against Humanity objected…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:00PM
Thursday, August 13, 2015

Dark Humor: The Ups and Downs, and Downs, of a Chicago Comedian’s Struggle by Zach Freeman

By Elle Metz On a bright stage in a dark room at The Annoyance Theatre in Lakeview, two men, bouncing slightly on their toes, peer into the audience. Seventeen people—mostly young and casu…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:35AM
Wednesday, August 12, 2015

The Trial By Theater: Contemporary Playwrights Inspired by the Prague Master in Kafkapalooza Festival by Zach Freeman

By Hugh Iglarsh At a time when pop culture often seems like the only game in town, First Floor Theater’s annual literary festival is a refreshing reminder of drama’s richer possibilities…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:08AM
Monday, August 10, 2015

Review: Celebration/A Red Orchid Incubator by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Harold Pinter’s plays famously hint at something ominous below the surface of dialogue that poetically chases itself around but ends up nowhere (“They believe in me.&…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PM

Review: Ready for Hillary: The Musical/The Public House Theatre by Zach Freeman

The premise of The Public House Theatre’s “Ready for Hillary: The Musical” is simple, if wacky: On the eve of the 2016 presidential election, candidates Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warr…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:15PM
Sunday, August 9, 2015

Review: Kurios—Cabinet of Curiosities/Cirque du Soleil by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED To some extent, every Cirque du Soleil show is dreamlike. Writer/director Michel Laprise’s “Kurios—Cabinet of Curiosities” is the first I have seen that makes that scenar…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:30PM
Thursday, August 6, 2015

Review: Feast/Albany Park Theater Project by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Chicago worships its food, from the temples of fine dining to the red-cooler bar tamales. Every resident has food woven inextricably into their life story, whether it’s joyful,…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:45PM
Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Review: We Gotta Bingo/Chicago Theater Works by Zach Freeman

With the rowdily interactive dinner theater show “We Gotta Bingo” Chicago Theater Works throws itself into the Belmont theater district with gusto, launching a new space (near Stage 773 …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:30PM
Monday, August 3, 2015

Review: The Two Gentlemen of Verona/Oak Park Festival Theatre by Zach Freeman

What better way to pass the dog days than with Shakespeare’s canine comedy? This early, patchy and problematic work – whose dramatic summit is the appearance of Crab, the melancholic mut…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:45AM
Thursday, July 30, 2015

Transformative Stories: A Reservoir of Healing at Erasing the Distance by Zach Freeman

By Loy Webb “This is turning into a therapy session,” says actress Angela Alise as she wipes the tears from her eyes. “Which it always does with Erasing the Distance,” Erasing the D…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:10AM
Monday, July 27, 2015

Review: VAMP: A Music Comedy Drinking Show/MCL Chicago by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Walking into the MCL Chicago space for “VAMP: A Music Comedy Drinking Show” is like walking into a raucous house party that’s just getting started. A four-piece band (Doc M…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:15PM

Review: ComedySportz/ComedySportz Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED A brand since 1984, in Chicago since 1987 and in their current digs on Belmont since 2007, ComedySportz has clearly hit on a winning formula, proudly maintaining the title of lon…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AM

Review: Stupid Fucking Bird/Sideshow Theatre Company by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Something tells me old Anton might have rather enjoyed “Stupid Fucking Bird” if his body had aged as well as his work. Sideshow Theatre Company’s lofty yet godless (re)visi…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:45AM
Sunday, July 26, 2015

Review: Bette: Live at the Continental Baths/Hell in a Handbag by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Ever the crowdpleasers, the folks at Hell in a Handbag follow the touchy and pushy “Miracle!” with a loving tribute to Bette Midler, a longtime ally and prominent cultural ic…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:00PM

Review: 15 BREATHS/About Face Youth Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words sum up life’s most difficult …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:00AM
Thursday, July 23, 2015

Review: A Perfect Ganesh/Eclipse Theatre Company by Zach Freeman

Rarely in my experience has a play that starts so well gone so flat by the end. The opening scenes of “A Perfect Ganesh” are perfectly hilarious, from the moment old friends Kitty (Jeann…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:45AM

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