ATW NewsClips - National, Industry Pubs

Associated Press

Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, battle again
England's Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, will square off on Broadway next spring in the critically acclaimed London production of ''Mary Stuart,'' starring Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter.

Sam Shepard treads familiar ground in 'Dead Horse'

A mixture of hilarity and horror thrive in 'The Marriage of Bette and Boo'

Variety

Big, small screens boost Broadway
'Mamma' benefits from movie, 'Blonde' from TV

'Mary Stuart' to grace Broadway
Schiller's hit London play to bow in spring

Neil Pepe to direct 'Speed-the-Plow'
Performances begin at Belasco on Oct. 3

Sprecher, Forlenza go Global
Duo partner on producing org

LCT finds 'Happiness'
'Contact' team reunite for new musical

Review: Kicking a Dead Horse
...Even with Stephen Rea re-creating his starring role in the original Abbey Theater production -- not to mention the huge horse carcass taking up much of the stage -- the piece is all metaphor and no drama.

Review: The Book Club Play
Clearly, Zacarias is a writer of comedic skill but her much-in-development play lacks focus and a clear tone as it veers from social satire to sitcom snap and sentiment to Durang-like derangement -- and back again. Sitcomland is where this play feels most at home.

Review: The Little Hours
The worldly humor and cynical observations that marked the trademark pen of Dorothy Parker were harnessed into a chamber musical, "The Little Hours," by the late David Bucknam. Coincidentally, the tuner is having its world premiere by the New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch, where the scribe was born when her Manhattan family was vacationing there in summer 1893.

Review: Willy Wonka
While its frequent use of puppetry provides moments of pure imagination, this Chicago Shakespeare production of "Willy Wonka" -- a family-targeted musical version of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" -- otherwise feels mostly like a practical affair, making it a decent entertainment but not a treat worth craving.

Bloomberg.com

Frolicking Nazis in `The Producers' Draw Laughs From Viennese Theatergoers
Seventy years after Austrians enthusiastically voted to become part of Nazi Germany, Vienna theater audiences are flocking to see ``The Producers'' and ``Mein Kampf'' to get a chance to poke fun at Hitler.

Stephen Rea Seeks `True' West in Shepard's Horsey Monologue: John Simon
With ``Kicking a Dead Horse,'' Sam Shepard returns as playwright and director in a co-production of Dublin's Abbey Theatre and New York's Public Theater, where it is now having its U.S. debut. Its one act is overlong (80 minutes), even if its one speaking character is played by the fine Irish actor Stephen Rea, who does everything performance can do for a play.

Wall Street Journal

A Second Chapter From the Second City
Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre swarmed this year's Tony Awards, though it wasn't always so. Between the company's explosive early success and now, there were years after John Malkovich, Gary Sinise and the other founders left for Hollywood and Broadway when Steppenwolf merely sputtered.

Back Stage

Kicking a Dead Horse reviewed by Adam R. Perlman
Yesterday David Mamet's most recent play closed, and tonight Sam Shepard's opens. Both works, penned by arguably America's greatest living playwrights, bear the marks of the Bush presidency.

Neal Medlyn's Unpronounceable Symbol reviewed by Jerry Portwood
Performer Neal Medlyn has a reputation for exposing himself. He once performed a syrupy sweet pop song while dressed in nothing but a puppy-dog sweater — his lower half completely nude.

No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs reviewed by Irene Backalenick
The temptation is to label No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs a play in process and to hope that the playwright will tighten this repetitious work.

The Wedding Play reviewed by Mark Peikert
Any two-hour farce had better keep the plot and characters in constant motion, and the greatest failing of The Wedding Play is that it doesn't.