Archives for October 6, 2005

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway and off-Broadway shows, updated each Thursday. In all cases, I either gave these shows strongly favorable reviews in The Wall Street Journal when they opened or saw and liked them some time in the past year (or both). For more information, click on the title.

Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.

BROADWAY:

– Avenue Q* (musical, R, adult subject matter, strong language, one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

– Chicago* (musical, R, adult subject matter, sexual content, fairly strong language)

– Dirty Rotten Scoundrels* (musical, R, extremely vulgar, reviewed here)

– Doubt* (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, implicit sexual content, reviewed here)

– Fiddler on the Roof (musical, G, one scene of mild violence but otherwise family-friendly, reviewed here)

– The Light in the Piazza (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter and a brief bedroom scene, reviewed here)

– Sweet Charity (musical, PG-13, lots of cutesy-pie sexual content, reviewed here)

– The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (musical, PG-13, mostly family-friendly but contains a smattering of strong language and a production number about an unwanted erection, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

– Orson’s Shadow (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, very strong language, reviewed here)

– Slava’s Snowshow (performance art, G, child-friendly, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON:

– Sides: The Fear Is Real… (sketch comedy, PG, some strong language, reviewed here, closes Oct. 27)

CLOSING THIS WEEKEND:

– Mother Courage (drama with songs, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here, closes Saturday)

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway and off-Broadway shows, updated each Thursday. In all cases, I either gave these shows strongly favorable reviews in The Wall Street Journal when they opened or saw and liked them some time in the past year (or both). For more information, click on the title.

Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.

BROADWAY:

– Avenue Q* (musical, R, adult subject matter, strong language, one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

– Chicago* (musical, R, adult subject matter, sexual content, fairly strong language)

– Dirty Rotten Scoundrels* (musical, R, extremely vulgar, reviewed here)

– Doubt* (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, implicit sexual content, reviewed here)

– Fiddler on the Roof (musical, G, one scene of mild violence but otherwise family-friendly, reviewed here)

– The Light in the Piazza (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter and a brief bedroom scene, reviewed here)

– Sweet Charity (musical, PG-13, lots of cutesy-pie sexual content, reviewed here)

– The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (musical, PG-13, mostly family-friendly but contains a smattering of strong language and a production number about an unwanted erection, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

– Orson’s Shadow (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, very strong language, reviewed here)

– Slava’s Snowshow (performance art, G, child-friendly, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON:

– Sides: The Fear Is Real… (sketch comedy, PG, some strong language, reviewed here, closes Oct. 27)

CLOSING THIS WEEKEND:

– Mother Courage (drama with songs, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here, closes Saturday)

– Rudolf Serkin’s fee in 1938 for a piano recital: $1,000

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $12,871.50

(Source: Stephen Lehmann and Marion Faber, Rudolf Serkin: A Life)

– Rudolf Serkin’s fee in 1938 for a piano recital: $1,000

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $12,871.50

(Source: Stephen Lehmann and Marion Faber, Rudolf Serkin: A Life)

“Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s being alone. It has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone. Although, in daily life, we do not always distinguish these words, we should do so consistently and thus deepen our understanding of our human predicament.”

Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now

“Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s being alone. It has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone. Although, in daily life, we do not always distinguish these words, we should do so consistently and thus deepen our understanding of our human predicament.”

Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now

“If you let in only the brilliant, then you produced bookworms and bench scientists: you ended up as socially irrelevant as the University of Chicago (an institution Harvard officials looked upon and shuddered).”

Malcolm Gladwell, “Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions”

“If you let in only the brilliant, then you produced bookworms and bench scientists: you ended up as socially irrelevant as the University of Chicago (an institution Harvard officials looked upon and shuddered).”

Malcolm Gladwell, “Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions”

Hockey’s back, and I experienced a lovely moment of related sensory overload this evening. After dropping off a friend in Bridgeport, I drove to the end of the block while fiddling with the radio tuner. At the stop sign I looked up to see Cellular One Field just ahead, bathed in light as the White Sox battled the Red Sox in a Very Important Playoff Game inside. Just then, I successfully tuned in the local hockey game as the puck was about to be dropped–the first NHL hockey I had seen or heard in 16 months was really, truly happening! For a few seconds there, before I turned toward the expressway, the glowing not-Comiskey, surrounded by a meaningful-looking halo of light, stood for my thrill at hearing the sounds of hockey again after a long silence. It was kind of like experiencing a synesthesia of the sports rather than the senses. I don’t believe they’ve yet concocted a technical term for that.

I’ve more or less composed myself by now, but let me indulge in just a wee hockey story to mark the end of Canada’s long national nightmare, and mine.

Sam [Pollock] was very impressed with how scientific football coaching had become, and so for a while he tried to adapt their methods to our game. He would wander the highest reaches of the Forum, searching out patterns of play, and if he detected something he would quickly radio Busher Curry, who would be pacing the gangway, a plug in his ear. No sooner would the Busher get Sam’s message than he would rush up to Bowman with the words of wisdom. Once, when we were leading the Bruins here, 3-2, with a couple of minutes to go, Sam, watching above, got on the radio to the Busher, who immediately rushed to the bench with the message for Scotty, which Scotty passed on to us. The message was “Sam says don’t let them score on you.”

That’s Doug Risebrough, quoted in Mordecai Richler’s Dispatches from the Sporting Life.

Hockey’s back, and I experienced a lovely moment of related sensory overload this evening. After dropping off a friend in Bridgeport, I drove to the end of the block while fiddling with the radio tuner. At the stop sign I looked up to see Cellular One Field just ahead, bathed in light as the White Sox battled the Red Sox in a Very Important Playoff Game inside. Just then, I successfully tuned in the local hockey game as the puck was about to be dropped–the first NHL hockey I had seen or heard in 16 months was really, truly happening! For a few seconds there, before I turned toward the expressway, the glowing not-Comiskey, surrounded by a meaningful-looking halo of light, stood for my thrill at hearing the sounds of hockey again after a long silence. It was kind of like experiencing a synesthesia of the sports rather than the senses. I don’t believe they’ve yet concocted a technical term for that.

I’ve more or less composed myself by now, but let me indulge in just a wee hockey story to mark the end of Canada’s long national nightmare, and mine.

Sam [Pollock] was very impressed with how scientific football coaching had become, and so for a while he tried to adapt their methods to our game. He would wander the highest reaches of the Forum, searching out patterns of play, and if he detected something he would quickly radio Busher Curry, who would be pacing the gangway, a plug in his ear. No sooner would the Busher get Sam’s message than he would rush up to Bowman with the words of wisdom. Once, when we were leading the Bruins here, 3-2, with a couple of minutes to go, Sam, watching above, got on the radio to the Busher, who immediately rushed to the bench with the message for Scotty, which Scotty passed on to us. The message was “Sam says don’t let them score on you.”

That’s Doug Risebrough, quoted in Mordecai Richler’s Dispatches from the Sporting Life.