Leopold and Loeb's Criminal Minds
In 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy. An outraged nation cried for vengeance, but the famed attorney Clarence Darrow had a trick up his sleeve.
by Simon Baatz
Smithsonian Magazine, August 2008 8/01/08
Low Deeds and High IQ
Living in Chicago breeds a taste for crime that derives from one of the city's richest traditions. In what other place, after all, is Valentine's Day associated with a massacre?
by Joseph Epstein
The Wall Street Journal 8/08/08
Murder Most Rational and Confusing
Murder is the most serious crime one human being can commit against another. Perhaps that is why it has such an enduring fascination and why a whole literary genre — the whodunit — has been inspired by it. But as entertaining as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers can be, real murder stories often trump the best fictional ones and live on in the folk memory just as long.
by John Steele Gordon
New York Times 8/17/08
For the Thrill of It
Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were sons of Chicago's Jewish aristocracy, youths -- Leopold was 19 and Loeb 18 -- who had been denied little in life and who gave every evidence of having brilliant futures.
by Jonathan Yardley
Washington Post 8/24/08
Thrill Me: the Leopold & Loeb Story
There is another shocking play being produced as a joint effort by The Marigny Theatre, LLC, and To Do Productions. This little venue in the Marigny is continually creating local theater history by doing things other companies wouldn’t even dream of producing. ...Now they have veered...to a musical about unspeakable thrill crimes committed by Leopold and Loeb: arson and murder - 1924 Chicago.
Patrons, don’t miss this oddly fulfilling show. It’s hypnotic, edgy, and totally au courant. Kudos to a great cast and tech crew!
by Patrick Shannon
StageClick 8/29/08
THRILL ME: the leopold & loeb story
For those not familiar with Thrill Me’s story, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold were two upper class teenagers in Chicago who, inspired by Nietzschean philosophy and love for his friend, respectively, tried to commit the perfect crime, the 1924 murder of a 14- year-old boy. They committed the crime but it was far from perfect. Both were spectacularly caught within days, getting away with their lives only through Clarence Darrow’s famed legal and oratory skills.
by Brian Sands
Ambush Magazine 9/09/08
THRILL ME, Marigny Theatre
Theatre Marigny has seen its dreams come true with a genuine no-holds barred hit: the dramatic true story of Leopold and Loeb, those two notorious teenage killers of the 1920’s, called THRILL ME....What an experience!
4 Claps!
by Al Shea
"Steppin' Out", WYES-TV 12 9/12/08
"Thrill Me", Surprisingly, Does
What revelation can there be in a tale already told to death in countless books, plays, movies and TV shows? ("Rope," "Compulsion," "Swoon," even "Law & Order"). Well, the surprise was mine, because composer/lyricist/book-writer Dolginoff delves into the sado-masochistic psychology of the teenage law student slayers, using song as interior monologues and to heighten emotionally charged, confrontational scenes. ...
Ultimately, "Thrill Me" is not the supplicant's plea, but a command, and one fulfilled at the Marigny Theatre.
by David Cuthbert
Times Picayune 9/18/08
"Thrill Me", Surprisingly, Does
What revelation can there be in a tale already told to death in countless books, plays, movies and TV shows? ("Rope," "Compulsion," "Swoon," even "Law & Order"). Well, the surprise was mine, because composer/lyricist/book-writer Dolginoff delves into the sado-masochistic psychology of the teenage law student slayers, using song as interior monologues and to heighten emotionally charged, confrontational scenes. ...
Ultimately, "Thrill Me" is not the supplicant's plea, but a command, and one fulfilled at the Marigny Theatre.
by David Cuthbert
Times Picayune 9/18/08
Partners in Crimw
Thrill Me by Stephen Dolginoff, despite the songs, is not light entertainment. It surprises by taking the two adolescent murderers seriously and showing us the dynamic that propelled them to the ghastly, purposeless crime that made them famous. I typically resent being sentimentally manipulated, but I did not feel anything of the sort was afoot. Hannah Arendt, writing of the Nazis, spoke of the banality of evil. Maybe that's what makes this weird story so troubling and evocative.
by Dalt Wonk
Gambit Weekly 9/30/08
A Demon Oozes Charm
An unlikely musical hit was produced recently at the Marigny Theater by the adventurous To Do Productions. “Thrill Me: The Leopold And Loeb Story,” sets to music the familiar tale of the 1924 random thrill-killing of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by precocious, well-to-do Jazz Age geniuses Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.
by Michael P. Cahill
OnStage Magazine 11/01/08
The Final Word
Writer, composer, lyricist Stephen Dolginoff reacts to our production of his chamber musical.
by Stephen Dolgnoff
12/17/08
APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE!
From rousing musicals to biting satire, N.O. theaters staged a slew of winners
by David Cuthbert
Times Picayune 12/26/08
2008 Theater Year in Review: Curtain Calls
The big news in theater this year was small. Some of the biggest surprises were either small shows or on small stages.
by Dalt Wonk
Gambit Weekly 12/29/08