All stories by Zach Freeman on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Review: King Ubu/The Plagiarists by Zach Freeman

The Plagiarists current production of “King Ubu” is an updated version of “Ubu Roi,” Alfred Jarry’s revolutionary social satire and the godfather of all ensuing…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:07PM
Thursday, August 29, 2013

Review: Conversations on a Homecoming/Strawdog Theatre Company by Zach Freeman

Rumor has it that the Irish cast in the original production of Tom Murphy’s booze-drenched, pub-set “Conversations on a Homecoming” consumed real alcohol throughout the course of this …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:50AM
Monday, August 26, 2013

Review: Bo Thomas and the Case of the Sky Pirates/Babes With Blades Theatre Company by Zach Freeman

They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but in Babes with Blades Theatre Company’s premiere of Eric Simon’s “Bo Thomas and the Case of the Sky Pirates,” the two …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:16AM
Saturday, August 24, 2013

Review: The Lockout/Six Hours Short by Zach Freeman

Once in a weird, waning moon, something very strange occurs. It comes on suddenly, like the regurgitation of a warm shot of whiskey, and wreaks tender-footed havoc on those willing to sit th…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:48PM

Review: Next to Normal/Drury Lane Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED An architecturally surreal house is the setting: bedrooms, neon lights, a kitchen. As the center spotlight comes up, a beautiful middle-aged woman, with a hint of fatigue on her …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:20AM
Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Review: 12 Nights/The Hypocrites by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED In his time, Shakespeare’s plays, particularly his comedies, were meant to entertain the masses. These early situational comedies (yes, sitcoms) were borderline interactive, wi…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:46AM

Review: The Dumb Waiter/Proud Kate Theatre Project by Zach Freeman

Fans of Harold Pinter are sure to be interested in Proud Kate Theatre Project’s stripped-down production of “The Dumb Waiter,” currently playing at The Alley Stage in Buena Par…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:30AM
Sunday, August 18, 2013

Review: The Birds/Hell in a Handbag Productions by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED In August of 1998 Camille Paglia, social critic and dissident feminist, released an essayist’s interpretation of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” that cast the …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:49PM
Friday, August 16, 2013

Review: The Rainmaker/First Folio Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED You’ll stand the forty-five-minute drive from the city. You’ll stand the insufferable traffic and overpriced tolls. You’ll even stand the thrumming engine roar of a low-fly…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:55AM
Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Improvised Advice: Switch Committee Recommends Jumping Off a Cliff by Zach Freeman

By, Joshua C. Robinson Switch Committee—David Schwartzbaum, Ryan Nallen, Alan Linic, Dave Karasik and Collin Dahlgren, best friends and iO Chicago graduates—perform their own version of …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 07:00AM
Monday, August 12, 2013

Review: The Last Five Years/Kokandy Production by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Jason Robert Brown’s well-crafted two-person musical “The Last Five Years” (actually more of a mash-up of two one-person musicals) tells a fairly uncomplicated story of a r…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:04PM

Review: Invasion!/Silk Road Rising by Zach Freeman

The carefully executed and evocative opening scene, a brilliantly subtle little bait-and-switch, promisingly sets “Invasion!” up to be an ever-shifting piece of all-engaging theater, ask…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PM

Review: Cabaret/Light Opera Works by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Before Rudy Hogenmiller became the artistic director of Light Opera Works in 2005, he had been a song-and-dance man on stage for more than thirty years. One of the shows that Hog…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:00AM

Review: Pink Milk/Oracle Productions and White Elephant by Zach Freeman

 RECOMMENDED In the field of Computer Science, when you’re studying algorithms and network connections and artificial intelligence, there are a few actual human names that get committed t…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 07:00AM
Friday, August 9, 2013

Review: Flashdance – the Musical/Cadillac Palace Theatre by Zach Freeman

Taking a pop-culture film phenomenon and transforming it into a new Broadway musical is no easy task, to be sure: the myriads of misfires significantly outweigh the occasional hits. The lat…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:32AM
Monday, July 15, 2013

Review: Facing Angela/The Ruckus Theater by Zach Freeman

I took an Introduction to Philosophy course in college. One of the few questions posed in that class that still seems interesting to me is the one that playwright Scott T. Barsotti addresses…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:05PM
Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Review: Simpatico/A Red Orchid Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED There’s a lot to say about A Red Orchid Theatre’s latest production. A lot. But there are three things you need to know up front. They’re all equally important, but you nee…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:33PM
Thursday, June 27, 2013

Review: Inner Voices/Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Piccolo Teatro di Milano by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED “Who can solve the mystery of dreams?” demands actor/director Toni Servillo as the increasingly disheartened Alberto Saporito in Piccolo Teatro di Milano’s production of th…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:37PM
Monday, June 24, 2013

Review: A Clown Car Named Desire/Second City e.t.c. by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED There is a sketch early on in the second act of “A Clown Car Named Desire” that starts out seeming like your standard hipster-mocking (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t en…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:54AM
Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Review: Mine/The Gift Theatre by Zach Freeman

“You’ll have plenty of time to hold her tomorrow. You’ll have the whole rest of your life.” So says brand-new daddy and eager-to-sleep husband Peter (Gabriel Franken) to his excited …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:23PM
Friday, June 14, 2013

Review: Uncle Bob/Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company by Zach Freeman

Stewing alone in his cramped, book-filled apartment in New York City, smug yet self-loathing Bob (Richard Cotovsky) has vague plans to write, think and generally just complain during the fin…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:44PM
Sunday, June 9, 2013

Review: The Second City Guide to the Opera/Second City and Lyric Opera by Zach Freeman

The pre-show music for Lyric Opera shows don’t typically include selections from Deltron 3030. And you can’t usually order mixed drinks with clever names like The Boozy Baritone or The I…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:48PM
Thursday, May 30, 2013

Review: Cirque Shanghai: Dragon’s Thunder/Navy Pier by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED This weekend I watched “Fast & Furious 6,” alternately gaping, cheering and shaking my head in disbelief at scene after scene of various insane stunts that Dom and his te…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:47AM
Monday, May 6, 2013

Review: Collected Stories/American Blues Theater by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Following six years in the complex relationship between an established writer/professor and her aspiring protégée, Donald Margulies’ “Collected Stories” is a study in men…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:30PM
Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Untitled Article: Young Jean Lee’s Latest Show Plays the MCA by Zach Freeman

By Zach Freeman As a twenty-six-year old graduate student studying Shakespeare at Berkeley and working on her dissertation, a frustrated Young Jean Lee, fed up with academia, went to a thera…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00AM
Sunday, April 14, 2013

Review: Head of Passes/Steppenwolf Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Look at the Head of Passes on a map and you’re not likely to think of it as a place to set up a bed and breakfast. A no-man’s land of bayous and marshes sticking out into the…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 07:00PM
Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Review: In A Garden/A Red Orchid Theatre by Zach Freeman

There’s realism and there’s allegory. And “In A Garden,” playwright and screenwriter Howard Korder’s discourse on beauty, culture and nationalism, falls somewhere in between. Unfor…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:36AM
Monday, March 4, 2013

To Sleep Perchance to Dream: The immersive world of Dream Theatre Company’s “Amleth” by Zach Freeman

By Zach Freeman “We’re out on the fringe,” says Jeremy Menekseoglu, artistic director of Dream Theatre Company, sipping a beer in the brightly lit underground area of Sakura Karaoke Lo…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00AM
Saturday, February 16, 2013

Review: Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth/Broadway In Chicago by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED “What the hell is Mike Tyson gonna do up here on stage tonight?” This is the thought that Tyson attributes to every member of the audience early on in “Mike Tyson: Undisput…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:24AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Review: Teddy Ferrara/Goodman Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED A suicide is always a tragedy. And in the hands of various interest groups and media outlets, as agendas are pushed and stories are filtered or distorted, a tragedy can become a …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:20PM
Monday, February 4, 2013

Review: The Birthday Party/Steppenwolf Theatre by Zach Freeman

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” It’s a simple enough question and there are any number of suitable punchlines. But when this trivial setup-line is asked, needled, demanded three …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:45AM