Archives for October 14, 2005

Friday again, and time for this week’s Wall Street Journal drama-column teaser. Today I reviewed three plays, one off-off-Broadway production (The Caterers) and two out-of-town shows (King Lear in Boston and Leading Ladies in Washington, D.C.). I gave all three a thumbs-up:

Talk about timely: I saw “The Caterers,” Jonathan Leaf’s new play about an Islamic terrorist and his three hostages, a British filmmaker and a pair of Jewish caterers, a couple of hours after Mayor Bloomberg warned New Yorkers of a possible terrorist assault on the local subway system. The news was still so hot that I had trouble getting a cab to the theater–and “The Caterers” is so nightmarishly believable a portrait of terrorism in action that the friend with whom I saw it had a panic attack when it was over.

Part of my friend’s anxiety arose from the fact that “The Caterers” is being performed by a very fine cast (Judith Hawking is especially strong) in an Off-Off Broadway theater small enough that you can smell the powder whenever Mohammed (Brian Wallace) fires his pistol. But Mr. Leaf’s play, which was inspired by a real-life incident, is wholly plausible in its own right…

Alvin Epstein is best known in Manhattan for his appearances in the plays of Samuel Beckett. He first attracted attention a half-century ago in the Broadway premiere of “Waiting for Godot” and was most recently heard from this February in the Irish Repertory Theatre’s splendid revival of “Endgame.” Now he’s up in Boston, guesting with the Actors’ Shakespeare Project in the best “King Lear” I’ve ever seen on stage….

I have a weakness for the vanilla-ice-cream farces of Ken Ludwig, the latest of which, “Leading Ladies,” is now playing at Washington’s Ford’s Theatre (yes, that Ford’s Theatre). As usual with Mr. Ludwig, this tale of Clark & Gable (Ian Kahn and JD Cullum), two fourth-rate Shakespearean actors who dress up in drag to swindle a small-town heiress (Karen Ziemba) out of an inheritance, is silly, sentimental and efficient to a fault, the fault being that you can see the denouement coming two miles off.

Fortunately, “Leading Ladies” is also funny in a sweet, old-fashioned way that may not have much to do with its purported genre (Mr. Ludwig is too nice a guy to write six-door farce, which thrives on unbridled cruelty) but is agreeable all the same….

As usual, no link. To read the whole thing, buy a copy of this morning’s Journal, or go here to subscribe to the Online Journal, Web-based journalism’s best bargain.

UPDATE: The Journal has just posted a free link to this review. Go here to read the whole thing.

Friday again, and time for this week’s Wall Street Journal drama-column teaser. Today I reviewed three plays, one off-off-Broadway production (The Caterers) and two out-of-town shows (King Lear in Boston and Leading Ladies in Washington, D.C.). I gave all three a thumbs-up:

Talk about timely: I saw “The Caterers,” Jonathan Leaf’s new play about an Islamic terrorist and his three hostages, a British filmmaker and a pair of Jewish caterers, a couple of hours after Mayor Bloomberg warned New Yorkers of a possible terrorist assault on the local subway system. The news was still so hot that I had trouble getting a cab to the theater–and “The Caterers” is so nightmarishly believable a portrait of terrorism in action that the friend with whom I saw it had a panic attack when it was over.

Part of my friend’s anxiety arose from the fact that “The Caterers” is being performed by a very fine cast (Judith Hawking is especially strong) in an Off-Off Broadway theater small enough that you can smell the powder whenever Mohammed (Brian Wallace) fires his pistol. But Mr. Leaf’s play, which was inspired by a real-life incident, is wholly plausible in its own right…

Alvin Epstein is best known in Manhattan for his appearances in the plays of Samuel Beckett. He first attracted attention a half-century ago in the Broadway premiere of “Waiting for Godot” and was most recently heard from this February in the Irish Repertory Theatre’s splendid revival of “Endgame.” Now he’s up in Boston, guesting with the Actors’ Shakespeare Project in the best “King Lear” I’ve ever seen on stage….

I have a weakness for the vanilla-ice-cream farces of Ken Ludwig, the latest of which, “Leading Ladies,” is now playing at Washington’s Ford’s Theatre (yes, that Ford’s Theatre). As usual with Mr. Ludwig, this tale of Clark & Gable (Ian Kahn and JD Cullum), two fourth-rate Shakespearean actors who dress up in drag to swindle a small-town heiress (Karen Ziemba) out of an inheritance, is silly, sentimental and efficient to a fault, the fault being that you can see the denouement coming two miles off.

Fortunately, “Leading Ladies” is also funny in a sweet, old-fashioned way that may not have much to do with its purported genre (Mr. Ludwig is too nice a guy to write six-door farce, which thrives on unbridled cruelty) but is agreeable all the same….

As usual, no link. To read the whole thing, buy a copy of this morning’s Journal, or go here to subscribe to the Online Journal, Web-based journalism’s best bargain.

UPDATE: The Journal has just posted a free link to this review. Go here to read the whole thing.

1. I went to bed at two a.m. on Thursday morning.

2. I got up at six-thirty to write my “Sightings” column for Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.

3. At nine-fifteen, just as I was starting to draft the last sentence of the column, I received a terse e-mail from Eric Gibson, my editor at the Journal: “Think we need you to comment on Pinter’s Nobel for Sightings stedda agreed topic. Can do?”

4. “Pinter’s Nobel?” I said to myself, puzzled.

5. I checked the wires and found out that Harold Pinter had just won the Nobel Prize for literature.

6. Oaths were uttered.

7. I put aside Column No. 1 and spent the next five hours drafting and polishing Column No. 2.

8. My assistant showed up fifteen minutes early for an afternoon work session, only to discover that I’d been so busy working on Column No. 2 that I never got around to putting my clothes on. (Yes, she has keys.)

9. More oaths were uttered.

10. I got dressed, quickly.

11. The column got finished and filed shortly thereafter.

12. I staggered to a press preview of Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular. It was raining.

13. I sloshed home after the show, took the phone off the hook, and fell into bed.

If you want to talk to me, call back tomorrow. Or Sunday.

P.S. Read “Sightings” in the “Pursuits” section of tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal.

P.P.S. You can always count on Mr. Alicublog to come out swinging!

1. I went to bed at two a.m. on Thursday morning.

2. I got up at six-thirty to write my “Sightings” column for Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.

3. At nine-fifteen, just as I was starting to draft the last sentence of the column, I received a terse e-mail from Eric Gibson, my editor at the Journal: “Think we need you to comment on Pinter’s Nobel for Sightings stedda agreed topic. Can do?”

4. “Pinter’s Nobel?” I said to myself, puzzled.

5. I checked the wires and found out that Harold Pinter had just won the Nobel Prize for literature.

6. Oaths were uttered.

7. I put aside Column No. 1 and spent the next five hours drafting and polishing Column No. 2.

8. My assistant showed up fifteen minutes early for an afternoon work session, only to discover that I’d been so busy working on Column No. 2 that I never got around to putting my clothes on. (Yes, she has keys.)

9. More oaths were uttered.

10. I got dressed, quickly.

11. The column got finished and filed shortly thereafter.

12. I staggered to a press preview of Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular. It was raining.

13. I sloshed home after the show, took the phone off the hook, and fell into bed.

If you want to talk to me, call back tomorrow. Or Sunday.

P.S. Read “Sightings” in the “Pursuits” section of tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal.

P.P.S. You can always count on Mr. Alicublog to come out swinging!

August 2004:

What would you do if you knew you had only a day to live? A week? A year? If a piece of unfinished work rested reproachfully on your desk, would you feel obliged to finish it? If you knew you couldn’t get it done in the time remaining, would you try to do as much as you could? Or would you put it aside, smiling wryly at the vanity of human wishes, and spend your last hours communing with better minds than your own?…

(If it’s new to you, read the whole thing here.)

August 2004:

What would you do if you knew you had only a day to live? A week? A year? If a piece of unfinished work rested reproachfully on your desk, would you feel obliged to finish it? If you knew you couldn’t get it done in the time remaining, would you try to do as much as you could? Or would you put it aside, smiling wryly at the vanity of human wishes, and spend your last hours communing with better minds than your own?…

(If it’s new to you, read the whole thing here.)

– Glenn Gould’s average fee for a solo recital in 1964, the last year he performed in public: $3,500

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $21, 124.58

(Source: Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange)

– Glenn Gould’s average fee for a solo recital in 1964, the last year he performed in public: $3,500

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $21, 124.58

(Source: Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange)