About Last Night

The seventeenth episode of Three on the Aisle, the twice-monthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for listening or downloading. In this episode, Peter, Elisabeth, and I discuss a controversial topic and take calls from our listeners.

Here’s an excerpt from American Theatre’s “official” summary of the proceedings:

At the top of the show, the critics do a meta-discussion: They review a theatre review and the response around it. Recently Laura Collins-Hughes of The New York Times wrote a review of Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and was then harshly critiqued for allegedly “body shaming” an actor onstage. The critics look at the history of body shaming in theatre criticism as well as how critics judge actors’ appearances and when they are relevant in a review today. They also dissect shows such as Pretty Woman, which by its very title bakes the protagonist’s appearance into the title of the show….

As usual, we wrap things up with a discussion of recent productions, in New York and elsewhere, that we’ve seen and liked—or not.

To listen, download the latest episode, read more about it, or subscribe to Three on the Aisle, go here.

In case you missed any previous episodes, you’ll find them all here.

In the online version of today’s Wall Street Journal I review two new Broadway musicals, Pretty Woman and Gettin’ the Band Back Together. Here’s an excerpt.

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No doubt there’s a politically correct opinion of “Pretty Woman,” Garry Marshall’s stupendously popular 1990 movie romcom. I wouldn’t know: I can’t figure out whether Degrading to Women takes intersectional precedence over Sex Work Is Good. Fortunately, to lift a line from my worthy colleagues in the judicial branch, we need not reach this issue in order to render judgment on the new musical version of Mr. Marshall’s film. Not that “Pretty Woman” is terrible—it’s just mediocre, albeit to a mind-boggling degree….

Of course you already know the well-worn plot of “Pretty Woman,” a big-bucks update of “Cinderella” in which an obscenely rich businessman (Andy Karl) hires a trashy but lovable Hollywood hooker (Samantha Barks) to be his round-the-clock escort for a hectic week of deal-making, at the end of which they fly off into the sunset in his private jet and live wealthily ever after. Since this is a safety-first commodity musical whose sole purpose is to extract cash from middle-aged fans of the film by reminding them of how much they liked it once upon a time, Mr. Marshall and J.F. Lawton, who wrote the screenplay, stuck to their script with immovable rigidity. The only thing new (so to speak) is the pop-rock score by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, an exercise in applied cliché coinage …

Ms. Barks, who has evidently been hired to impersonate Julia Roberts, does so with impressive accuracy and no trace of originality. Mr. Karl, who lit up the stage two seasons ago in “Groundhog Day,” is an immensely likable performer who has no notion of how to portray an emotionally stunted squillionaire who is liberated by love….

Any other week, “Gettin’ the Band Back Together” would have locked up Broadway’s booby prize, but it looks positively adequate by comparison with “Pretty Woman.” A spoofy little musical about a 40-year-old Manhattan stockbroker (Mitchell Jarvis) who loses his job, returns to deepest New Jersey, moves back in with his sexy mom (Marilu Henner) and decides to restart Juggernaut, his high-school garage band, “Gettin’ the Band Back Together” was made for summer theaters. What it’s doing on Broadway is hard to figure, but the members of the cast of “Gettin’ the Band Back Together” are so amiable that it’s not too unpleasant—up to a point—to spend an evening watching them tell corny jokes and sing Mark Allen’s lame but innocuous songs….

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Because of Aretha Franklin’s death, the print version of today’s Journal contains only an abridged version of my Pretty Woman review. To read my complete reviews of both shows, go here.

Bill Evans plays Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight,” accompanied by Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morrell on drums. This performance was taped for telecast in Sweden in 1970:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“I depart from life as from an inn, and not as from my home.” ( Ex vita discedo, tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex domo.)

Cicero, “De Senectute” (On Old Age)

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• The Band’s Visit (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Dear Evan Hansen (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Hamilton (musical, PG-13, Broadway transfer of off-Broadway production, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• My Fair Lady (musical, G, nearly all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• Be More Chill (musical, PG-13, extended through Sept. 30, reviewed here)

IN EAST HADDAM, CONN.:
• Oliver! (musical, PG-13, closes Sept. 13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:
• On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (musical, G, too complex for children, closes Sept. 6, reviewed here)
• Symphonie Fantastique (abstract underwater puppet show, G, closes Sept. 2, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:
• Pushkin: A Life Played Out (drama, PG-13, closes Aug. 25, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.:
• The Petrified Forest (drama, PG-13, closes Aug. 25, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN GARRISON, N.Y.:
• Richard II (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Aug. 26, reviewed here)
• The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Aug. 24, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY OFF BROADWAY:
• Carmen Jones (musical, PG-13, reviewed here)
• Mary Page Marlowe (drama, PG-13, reviewed here)
• Twelfth Night (Shakespeare, G, reviewed here)

“Every one can master a grief but he that has it.”

William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

Walt Disney appears as the mystery guest on What’s My Line? John Daly is the host and the panelists are Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Jerry Lewis. This episode was originally telecast live by CBS on November 11, 1956:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“Time goes by, reputation increases, ability declines.”

Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings

From 2008:

One of the advantages of writing a book on a word processor is that you can search the manuscript for repeated words and phrases. This can be, to say the least, a chastening experience. Like all prolific authors, I have my mannerisms…

Read the whole thing here.

“‘The trouble with fiction,’ said John Rivers, ‘is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.’”

Aldous Huxley, “John Rivers” (in The Genius and the Goddess)