Hauptmann at City Lit Theater

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Set in a prison cell in 1936, the play introduces us to Bruno Hauptmann, the man executed for killing the Lindbergh baby, allowing him to tell his story and argue his innocence. We're meant to find him compelling, if not necessarily trustworthy. But in George Seegebrecht's performance, he rarely moves beyond a hapless, bewildered victimhood. The lack of any competing aspects in his character kills any mystery and dulls out the show. Things only get interesting in a courtroom scene, when the prosecuting attorney (Brian Pastor) hectors Hauptmann on the stand."

Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...81 years ago, everything conspired to make the "trial of the century" engrossing entertainment. (Actually, it was the second trial of the century-after the Leopold and Loeb murder tribunal-but who's counting?) There was the horror of the kidnapping and killing of the 20-month-old baby of American idols Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, then the witchhunt and scapegoating of a bumbling outsider named Bruno Richard Hauptmann. (H.L. Mencken called it "the biggest story since the Resurrection.") Still potent, this sheer sensationalism makes John Logan's taut 1985 recreation courtroom-drama catnip."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...In the past thirty years, there have also been several pro-Hauptmann publications, making its sympathetic portrayal of him less provocative, and death penalty supporters have crafted responses to concerns the play raises. However, as an investigation of a character and his dreadful circumstances, and an opportunity to display skilled acting and an atmosphere of intrigue, Hauptmann's mystery remains as potent as ever, and City Lit fans especially will enjoy McCabe's most heart-felt work."

Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...I am not the most well versed person on this story, and I can't say I'm much better off after seeing this play. I get that there were lots of suspicious inconsistencies in the case as it moved along, including the choice of German "Bruno" Hauptmann, a poor and meek man set against the blond Aryan wet dream Charles Lindbergh. The eagerness of police to solve big cases. There's the whole thing with the gold certificates, the wood and handwriting experts and so on."

Third Coast Review - Recommended

"...The play introduces us to Hauptmann and his wife as well as Charles and Anne Lindbergh, the elite couple whose 20-month-old baby, Charles Jr., was kidnapped in March 1932. But the story is mostly Hauptmann's and Seegebrecht successfully steers us through events, letting us witness the unfortunate police questioning, the ridiculous court testimony and colorful (and biased) newspaper reporting that was typical of the day. (I wish City Lit's photographers had used real 1930s press cameras-those fabulous old Speed-Graphics, instead of smartphone cameras.) Even well-known journos like Damon Runyon and H.L. Mencken reported on the 1936 trial in Flemington, NJ."