All stories by Dmitry Samarov on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Mount Chicago tries hard, but fails by Dmitry Samarov

A novelist, writing professor, and covert comedian named Solomon Gladman wakes up one morning in Chicago, sometime in 2022. He and his French-born wife, Daphne Bourbon (would she be named Si…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 02:01PM
Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Murina by Dmitry Samarov

Despite all the beautiful water, sun, and half-naked bodies, what I was left with as the credits rolled was a mere trace memory of stylish vacuity. The post Murina appeared first on Chicago …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:30AM
Friday, July 8, 2022

The ghosts of the drowned villages by Dmitry Samarov

“Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink,” Coleridge’s sailor complains in the famous 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The mariner is talking about the plight on…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 06:58PM
Thursday, July 7, 2022

Not just another remake by Dmitry Samarov

With over a hundred years of the moving image at their disposal, these creative people appear at a loss how to proceed. It’s a very familiar feeling. The post Not just another remake appea…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 03:37PM
Friday, July 1, 2022

Olga by Dmitry Samarov

This is a skillful but flawed portrait of amateur sports on the global stage that doesn’t quite stick the landing. The post Olga appeared first on Chicago Reader.

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 01:11PM
Friday, June 24, 2022

Method and madness by Dmitry Samarov

“My dear boy, why don’t you try acting?” Laurence Olivier’s quippy response to Dustin Hoffman’s story of how he stayed up three nights to fully inhabit the sleepless state of his c…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:19PM
Thursday, June 23, 2022

What Cézanne saw by Dmitry Samarov

“Cézanne, he’s the greatest of us all.”—Claude Monet to Georges Clemenceau in conversation, cited in translation in The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné (trans. Joh…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 05:52PM
Thursday, June 16, 2022

Brian and Charles by Dmitry Samarov

Charles has a mannequin head, rubber gloves for hands, and a washing-machine torso. But the rest of him is quite obviously human. His hodgepodge construction neatly describes the disjointedn…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 10:56AM
Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Hell on wheels by Dmitry Samarov

Nealshow Productions premieres Pat Radke’s and Dave Satterwhite’s malaprop-fueled road-trip comedy. Candyce (Lee Satterwhite), in WWI helmet and goggles, is at the wheel of a middle-scho…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:50AM
Friday, June 10, 2022

Donbass by Dmitry Samarov

In a time when the most banal information is up for debate, this fake documentary reads as much too real. The post Donbass appeared first on Chicago Reader.

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 05:12PM
Thursday, May 26, 2022

Hit the Road by Dmitry Samarov

Being the son of the great Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi and the protege of the late master director Abbas Kiarostami can’t help but cast a shadow, but if this digressive and sl…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:00AM

Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day by Dmitry Samarov

Unfortunately, what Juergens presents onscreen comes across more like a loose scrapbook or vlog than a film. The post Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day appeared first on Chicago Re…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 11:00AM
Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Cruise control by Dmitry Samarov

Margaret Knapp directs the world premiere of Martha Hansen’s first play (presented by Light and Sound Productions) about five women on an Alaskan cruise—each hoping to sight something ot…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:57PM

Tyrant times by Dmitry Samarov

Steve Scott directs a storefront production of Shakespeare’s wallow into the nature of unadorned power-lust and demagoguery. With a minimal set—a couple benches, steps with a recess to i…

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 12:46PM
Thursday, May 12, 2022

War cries by Dmitry Samarov

A wooden rowboat and plastic sheets lining two back walls are the only decorations for Sarah Tolan-Mee’s English-language adaptation of Heiner Müller’s 1982 cry-of-anguish riff on war, …

SOURCE: chicagoreader.com at 07:00AM
Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Do comic strips belong in this museum? by Dmitry Samarov

A new exhibition at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art surveys over 60 years of cartoonists. Does a comic strip belong on a museum wall? I ask this not to qu…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 08:00AM
Monday, June 21, 2021

Ride Share explores the dark side of the gig economy by Dmitry Samarov

A former cabbie talks to writer Reginald Edmund about Ride Share at Writers Theatre—and the real-life experiences that inspired it. Being a public driver has n…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:30PM
Tuesday, June 15, 2021

In this house, we live online by Dmitry Samarov

Mount Prospect’s Mallory Smart, who publishes the online journal Maudlin House, has a new book coming out from Trident Press this year. “Lit!” is what writ…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 05:00AM
Tuesday, May 18, 2021

For Kyle Beachy, skateboarding is The Most Fun Thing by Dmitry Samarov

The author takes a deep dive into the culture of the lifestyle and his personal connection to it. What do you think of when you hear the word skateboarding? A ki…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:10PM
Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Avner Landes’s Meiselman gets it right by Dmitry Samarov

Even though its titular character always does just the opposite Meiselman is put-upon. Everything and everyone in his world is bent on humiliating and belittling…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:35PM
Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Casanova at the Corner Bar by Dmitry Samarov

An excerpt from Dmitry Samarov’s Old Style, an illustrated book set in Chicago bars I pay the guy no mind the first couple times he comes up. Young, kind of co…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:40PM
Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Amy Sillman breaks down art barriers by Dmitry Samarov

In her book Faux Pas, the painter makes a rarified field approachable with humor and profundity. “You take a picture, but you make a drawing.” I’ve tried f…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 11:50AM
Friday, January 22, 2021

The sad, funny monster in Running the Light by Dmitry Samarov

Stand-up comedian Sam Tallent’s hilarious novel follows a dumpster fire of a man looking for redemption. Is a monster still a monster if it knows it’s a mons…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:45PM
Monday, January 18, 2021

Finding happiness in letting go by Dmitry Samarov

Empty bookshelves aren’t a bad thing. No one has ever used the words joy or spark to describe me and I haven't read Marie Kondo's book or seen her TV show. Yet…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 04:15PM
Tuesday, January 5, 2021

An Alphabet for Joanna is a lyrical look at memory loss by Dmitry Samarov

Poet Damian Rogers explores her relationship with her mother in her new memoir. Do you know your mother? I don't mean her identity but who she is as a person.…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:50PM
Monday, November 2, 2020

Cuyahoga brings long ago midwest back to life by Dmitry Samarov

In his debut novel, Pete Beatty fashions historical fantasy that feels contemporary. Ours is a time ripe for tall tales. So Pete Beatty’s yarn about two brothe…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:35PM
Tuesday, October 6, 2020

A load of Crap by Dmitry Samarov

Wendy Woloson’s book dives deep into America’s obsession with cheap stuff. Crap is a fun and easy word to say. But what crap is is a lot harder to pin down.�…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 12:40PM
Friday, August 14, 2020

Plague time at the Art Institute by Dmitry Samarov

What it’s like to explore a familiar place under unfamiliar circumstances. When it was announced the Art Institute of Chicago was reopening I swore I wouldn't …

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:45PM
Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Hedda Gabler: A Play With Live Music shows us a woman fighting for her voice by Dmitry Samarov

TUTA gives Ibsen's classic a contemporary musical update. Lauren Demerath rages, leers, screams, flirts, and, best of all, sings her way through an unforgettable…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 06:15PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Rabbit Summer addresses complex subjects with a sure hand by Dmitry Samarov

The cast in Redtwist's drama about a police shooting makes the heavy lifting look easy. Ruby (Brooke Reams) and Wilson (Kevin Tre'Von Patterson) seem to have a p…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 07:40PM

Jasmon Drain joins the ranks of Chicago’s greatest authors by Dmitry Samarov

His debut collection, Stateway’s Garden, captures the city’s unique, ugly beauty. It's not often that a writer will make me see Chicago in a new way, but wit…

SOURCE: www.chicagoreader.com at 01:15PM

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