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.
Until last week, that is, when I saw Kowalski at Lookingglass Theatre. Directed by Colin Hanlon and written by Gregg Ostrin, it’s a slight but entertaining character study, a diverting way for a theater buff to spend 90 minutes (with no intermission). The play takes us to the New Jersey abode of Tennessee Williams on the day Marlon Brando shows up to audition for Streetcar Named Desire.
Johnny Galecki essays Williams with winning aplomb. He’s got charm to spare and doesn’t at first know what to make of young Brando, played with sly wit and electric physicality by Jacob Moskovitz. Moskovitz isn’t doing a Brando impression, but he captures his intensity and commitment to the craft of acting. Galecki is the big star here, and he’s great, but Moskovitz is the revelation.
The show opens and closes with a framing device of a later-in-life Williams recalling the audition during a TV interview. I still can’t figure out why it’s part of the play, as it doesn’t add any information or characterization that we don’t get during the momentous meeting itself. In fact, the frame lessens the impact of the story because it relegates it to the realm of flashback. Much better, I think, to do everything possible to make the moment seem like it’s unfolding for the first time.
Everything else about Kowalski is a hoot. It’s unlikely to stick with you long, but it’s certainly an engaging night at the theater.
Kowalski runs through Nov. 8 at Lookingglass Theatre
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Michael Brosilow
