Kowalski at Lookingglass Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...Galecki spent years on hit sitcoms, of course, and he reflexively knows how to time a laugh line or mine a subtle reaction line. Williams was very much a self-manufactured persona in an era when a playwright could be a genuine celebrity, so that is apropos, which, knowing Galecki, was not surprising to me. What I did not anticipate, but that Galecki delivers so well here, is how Williams reacts when his soft defenses are penetrated, and Brando gets the writer's dander up. That alone is worth the price of admission."

Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...Generally amusing in its lighter parts and strained in its more dramatic ones, Ostrin’s work relies on an audience with a decent amount of “Streetcar” knowledge, but not too much. If you don’t know the play or movie, you won’t get some of the humor. But if you know a good amount, you’ll see the fairly gimmicky concept at work before the plot reveals it, since Williams’ masterpiece also centers on a battle between a cultured and imperious Southerner in Blanche DuBois and an unpretentious, manipulative Stanley."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Now comes Gregg Ostrin’s Kowalski, which had its off-Broadway premiere last year and is aiming for a Broadway run after this production at Lookingglass Theatre. Nimbly directed by Colin Hanlon, Ostrin’s play stars Johnny Galecki as Williams and Jacob Moskovitz as a young Marlon Brando, sent to the playwright’s Provincetown home by director Elia Kazan to audition for A Streetcar Named Desire. As the 90 minutes of the play unfold, it’s clear that both Williams and Brando are adept at playing versions of themselves in order to control what is exposed and what is hidden."

Windy City Times - Highly Recommended

"...Kowalski is a fictional story where Marlon Brando visits Tennessee Williams in his Provincetown, Massachusetts, beach house to audition for Williams’ new project. Williams nicknamed the waterfront property Rancho Pancho after his lover, Pancho Rodriguez, who lived there with him in the summer of 1947."

Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended

"...As a play, Kowalski will probably not send you home thinking about any particular theme or message you may carry with you for the rest of your life like a Tennessee Williams work might, unless you've been thinking of taking up smoking herbal cigarettes. But, it is still not to be missed–a beautiful set and some incredible performances make for an exhilarating production that is akin to watching a niche history book come to life."

Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...Unobtrusively directed by Colin Hanlon, Kowalski is surprisingly straightforward for a play that imagines the meeting between one of the greatest and most influential actors of the last hundred years and his equivalent in the world of American playwrights. Brando finally arrives, breaks into the cottage when no one answers the door, and calmly helps himself to some cookies. After the initial confrontation, the two men settle into a back-and-forth. Williams is clearly charmed by this sullen young man, who is blunt to the point of rudeness, and the only thing more impressive than Brando’s biceps is the size of the chip on his shoulder."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...Greg Ostrin’s 90 minute script is tight and bitingly funny while still feeling human. Colin Hanlon’s direction keeps it moving and spare so you can concentrate on the interactions of the characters."

Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended

"...Kowalski delivers 90 minutes of enthralling, witty, and engaging theater, and Lookingglass Theatre starts the year off with one incredible performance."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...The 90-minute ( no intermission ) play is set over one night in 1947, and takes us into the initial meeting of playwright Tennessee Williams ( played to perfection by Johnny Galecki), who is trying to finalize his casting for "A Streetcar Named Desire". A young no-name has been suggested by Broadway director Elia Kazan, and the young man is on the way to Provincetown for a reading/audition."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...Talented playwright Gregg Ostrin has recreated an important moment in theatrical history that will fulfill a theatergoer’s fantasy to have been present when Tennessee Williams first met Marlon Brando. Ostrin beautifully adds enough fiction to the facts to mirror something that Blanche DuBois says in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. She tells Mitch, “I don’t want realism. I want magic.” So Ostrin softens the reality with enough illusion for a more emotional truth. The playwright also fills his play with moments that will remind the savvy theatergoer of certain scenes between Stanley and Blanche. And that’s exactly what KOWALSKI is at the Lookingglass Theatre: a story laced with illusion and magic that, when all is said and done, illustrates Tennessee Williams’ undeniable need for “the kindness of strangers.”"

Buzz Center Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Written by Gregg Ostrin, Kowalski features razor-sharp dialogue and wit, blending history and modern culture to create a fascinating, behind-the-scenes "what-if" scenario filled with humorous nods to Streetcar and theater days of old."

The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended

"...Playwright Gregg Ostrin imagines the initial conversations between a celebrity playwright and a future movie icon in this origin story to the destined masterpiece. Ostrin’s premise is rooted as a memory play. It starts with Tennessee (played by Johnny Galecki) being interviewed about casting the unknown Brando. Galecki engages immediately. He perfectly delivers magnolia charm with a razor’s edge. He hides his insecurity in a velvet drawl spiked with sass."

Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended

"...It’s summer 1947 and Tennessee Williams is looking forward to the world premiere of his new play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Elia Kazan is on board to direct and John Garfield may play the lead role of Stanley Kowalski. TW (Johnny Galecki) is staying at his home on Cape Cod with his companion Pancho (Reece Dos Santos). Kowalski by Gregg Ostrin, is a charming production, full of Williams’ wit and bombast, and smartly directed by Colin Hanlon. It’s on stage at Lookingglass Theatre with the potential for a New York run."

Chicago On Stage - Recommended

"...The imagined version of Tennessee Williams (Johnny Galecki) and Marlon Brando (Jacob Moskovitz) in Lookingglass’ Kowalski by Gregg Ostrin don’t agree on much — but, what they can agree on is that they don’t like critics. Since I was invited to sit among the enraptured and energetic Saturday evening crowd, I’ll give them a fair notice despite their criticism of my profession. Of course, Galecki and Moskovitz themselves did not make these comments, but it’s hard to distinguish; they are both so grounded and believable in the shoes of these larger-than-life, easily parodied artists that you sometimes forget entirely that they are not the titans themselves, with you in Williams’ Provincetown living room."

PicksInSix - Highly Recommended

"...To get right to the point, the Chicago premiere of "Kowalski" that opened at the Lookingglass Theatre on Saturday night features a tour-de-force performance by Johnny Galecki as Tennessee Williams in a superb play written by Gregg Ostrin and directed by Colin Hanlon. The piece imagines the first meeting between Williams and a young Marlon Brando rendered by the equally compelling Jacob Moskovitz. Galecki, a hometown Chicagoan with numerous stage credits, is best known in films and for his television success on 'The Big Bang Theory." You will also recognize Moskovitz in the Amazon Prime series "Elle," among others."

Curtain Call Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...There is something very satisfying about “Kowalski”, Gregg Ostrin’s play about the volatile early collaboration between Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando; it takes place before either of these artists fully became the monumental cultural figure we now know them to be; and yet Ostrin clearly understands that their magnificence is already there. At Lookingglass Theatre, under Colin Hanlon’s fine direction, the play is less history lesson and more “backstage” pressure cooker—an engaging account of ambition, insecurity, artistic jealousy, and the rare chemistry not often uncovered but required to make a lasting work of theater."

Chicago Culture Authority - Recommended

"...Richard Linklater is one of my favorite directors, especially when he works with Ethan Hawke. So I was delighted to find his 2025 film Blue Moon available to watch this summer during a long flight. It features Hawke as a late-career Lorenz Hart ruminating on his partnership with Richard Rodgers while holding court in Sardi’s on opening night of Oklahoma!, which marked the start of Rodgers’ successful run with Oscar Hammerstein II. The bittersweet film is a slight but entertaining character study. It was a diverting way to spend 100 minutes, a fun curio for a theater buff, but I never thought of it again."

NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...But first, the play itself, which on its own melodramatic terms is a success, full of laughs and gasps and pointed repartee. After a brief and unnecessary framing scene set thirty years later, we arrive at Williams’ cottage in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which he shares with his surly, rough-mannered lover, Pancho (Reece dos Santos). The real-time story of the audition then begins, moving smoothly and surely from beat to beat like a well-tuned machine, efficiently cuing the audience to key dramatic and humorous moments."