Goodman Theatre Presents: Iceboy!
Donterrio, Linda Mugleston, Shawn Pfautsch, Grey Henson, Megan Mullally, Melanie Brezill, Will Koski and Andrea San Miguel
Goodman Theatre Presents ICEBOY! Review - A New Musical, A New Era
TLDR: Capturing the feel of traditional musicals while incorporating new writing and comedy Iceboy! or The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write “The Iceman Cometh enters into a new era of comedy shows. Mullally and Offerman are up to the task and deliver their signature comedic charms along with all the other cast and ensemble members.
Melanie Brezill, Andrea San Miguel, Shawn Pfautsch, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Will Koski, Linda Mugleston and Donterrio
Melt My Frozen Heart Iceboy!
Back off, British Museum! Make way, National Archives! Keep your money, Mrs. Rockefeller! We’re right in the middle of a bidding war and there’s a Broadway star coming in hot to bid on the historical find of the century - a Neanderthal man perfectly preserved in a block of ice. Enter the effervescent but will cut your throat if you steal her spotlight Vera Vimm, played by the incomparable Megan Mullally. As an empath, she sees that the man encased in ice is just a lonely orphan boy as she herself was a lonely orphan girl.
As the Neanderthal thaws after being in his purchaser’s New York City penthouse (surprising no one), we’re taken on a journey of discovery for all our characters. Vera Vimm herself struggles with self-doubt as her new charge is climbing the popularity ladder and is finding more fame than her. Vimm’s housekeeper and right hand woman, Lambert, has a diagnosis of “FM” but also finds herself taken with this mysterious man. And set in peak literary Renaissance, there’s also Eugene O’Neill played by Nick Offerman, who tells us straight up (like the glass of whiskey in his hand) that he’s here to narrate and show us how these very “true” events inspired his award winning, 6-hour play.
We follow all these characters as they grapple with this new arrival and how he shakes all their lives up in Iceboy! or The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write “The Iceman Cometh.”
Melanie Brezill, Shawn Pfautsch, Donterrio, Megan Mullally, Grey Henson, Andrea San Miguel, Will Koski and Linda Mugleston
The Names on Everyone’s Lips
You may know her from Will and Grace or him from Parks and Recreation, but either way Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman have earned their fame from their comedic talent and also made their way into most of America’s hearts for that very reason. So the question everyone is asking, did they bring it on stage?
The answer is a resounding yes! Both perfectly cast for their roles, we believe every single word they say as if they wrote the scripts themselves. Kudos to both Jay Reiss and Erin Quinn Parcell for their comedy writing as well as both Mullally and Offerman for knowing how to deliver the script to perfection.
Mullally plays the larger than life, overconfident Broadway star Vera Vimm. She immediately grabs our attention as she takes center stage and covers every emotion from philanthropic, to ecstatic, to motherly, to jealous. Offerman starts out with a memorable entrance letting us know he is Eugene O’Neill, the drunk Pulitzer Prize writer with mommy issues. He combines both his iconic deadpan delivery with moments of giggling glee and some slapstick physical comedy when he has his big scene, outside of just narrating the show.
Not to mention the other delightful cast of characters. There’s Cedric Yarbrough as he plays the lovesick playwright and delights the audience with his crooner charm. She’s back, back, back again to Chicago after her performance in the pre-Broadway tryout of Tootsie, Sarah Lambert. I’m not sure I could give you another actor who could make a chronic illness endearing yet funny. Alex Goodrich doesn’t say much as Vera’s butler Frankenstein (his monster to be precise) but still gives a passionate performance through his emotive grunts. And Grey Henson as Iceboy keeps his “just defrosted energy” throughout the show but still shows depth with his delivery of his past before he was frozen. Each person has a unique character that they find both sides of.
Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman
Quintessential Musical Theatre Amped Up
Iceboy! has all the makings of a traditional musical but puts twists on the story that elevates it to a modern, comedic goldmine.
Set in the 1930s, so gorgeous costumes and references to the greats of the time? Check.
A set flawlessly designed to transition from scene to scene, giving us a world that takes us from a grand penthouse, to a zoo, to a seedy motel? Check.
A story that has a narrator, primary and secondary romantic characters, and a tight plot giving all characters growth and an arc wrapping everything up in a nice neat bow? Check.
Iceboy! has all the fixings of what you expect to see in a new musical. What sets it apart from being “just another musical” is the modern comedy that our writers have crafted. It takes after the likes of Oh, Mary! as it’s a completely fictional story. But it still sits in the realm of The Producers with making fun of musicals while being a “traditionally” structured musical itself. It’s found the balance between the two and is completely ludicrous, farfetched, absurd, and every other word you could look up in thesaurus to describe a night out that had the audience laughing at every well-timed joke.
Melanie Brezill, Shawn Pfautsch, Megan Mullally, Sarah Stiles and Grey Henson
The After Party Thoughts
Do I know anything about Eugene O’Neil? No. Did that matter? Absolutely not. Iceboy! keeps you on your toes because you have no idea what is going to come next. It’s smartly funny, has the perfect amount of non-sequitors, and while billed with two stars, the cast is packed with talent and comedic chops across the board.
If you’re in the market for new works, Iceboy! is the right show for you. It doesn’t quite reach the same “commit to the bit” level of Oh, Mary! but solidly rests amongst shows that don’t take themselves too seriously while giving musical theater lovers what they want. Plus if you want to see everything you love about Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman as they act alongside each other, Iceboy! is not to be missed!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Linda Mugleston, Megan Mullally, Melanie Brezill, Andrea San Miguel and Nick Offerman
When
Now through August 9, 2026
Where
Goodman Theatre
170 N Dearborn St.
Chicago, IL 60601
Runtime: 2hrs 30min, including an intermission
Tickets
$49+
Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office 312.443.3800 or through the Goodman Theatre website
Photos
Todd Rosenburg
Find Allie and The After Party featured on Theatre in Chicago
Grey Henson, Megan Mullally and Alex Goodrich
CAST
Alex Goodrich (Frankenstein)
Grey Henson (Iceboy)
Megan Mullally (Vera Vimm)
Nick Offerman (Eugene O’Neill)
Sarah Stiles (Lambert)
Cedric Yarbrough (Floyd Richards)
Donterrio (Ensemble)
Melanie Brezill (Ensemble)
Will Koski (Ensemble)
Linda Mugleston (Ensemble)
Shawn Pfautsch (Ensemble)
Andrea San Miguel (Ensemble)
Will Lidke (Swing)
Leah Morrow (Swing)
Jeff Parker (Swing)
Megan Mullally, Cedric Yarbrough and Grey Henson
CREATIVE
Mark Hollmann (Music and Lyrics)
Jay Reiss (Lyrics / Book)
Erin Quinn Purcell (Book)
Marc Bruni (Director)
JoAnn M. Hunter (Choreographer)
Paul Tate dePoo III (Set Designer)
Jen Schriever (Lighting Designer)
Linda Cho (Costume Designer)
Charles “Chuck” LaPointe (Wig & Hair Designer)
Connor Wang (Sound Designer)
Vadim Feichtner (Music Director / Conductor / Pianist / Additional Arrangements)
Bruce Coughlin (Orchestrations)
John Blane (Music Preparation)
Michelle Lopez-Rios (Voice & Dialect)
Chels Morgan (Violence & Intimacy)
Keira Fromm (Associate Director)
Emily Hayman (Associate Sound Designer)
Liz Ramos (Associate Choreographer)
Patrick Bevilacqua (Associate Costume Designer)
Rachael Geier (Associate Wig & Hair Designer / Makeup Designer)
Paul Vaillancourt (Associate Lighting Designer)
Kaitlyn Peterson (Associate Set Designer)
Lo Williams (Assistant Director)
Jo Ann Daugherty (Assistant Music Director and Cover Conductor)
Jordan Klein (Music Assistant)
Emily Lynch (Assistant Sound Designer)
Emma Berry (Assistant Lighting Designer)
Molly Rosen (Script and Production Assistant)
Tuesday Thacker (Production Assistant)