Archives for 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 OFF BROADWAY:

– The Caterers (drama, R, violence, strong language, and explicit sexual situations, reviewed here, closes Oct. 30)

– Sides: The Fear Is Real… (sketch comedy, PG, some strong language, reviewed here, closes Oct. 30)

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 OFF BROADWAY:

– The Caterers (drama, R, violence, strong language, and explicit sexual situations, reviewed here, closes Oct. 30)

– Sides: The Fear Is Real… (sketch comedy, PG, some strong language, reviewed here, closes Oct. 30)

– Amount paid in 1945 by Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner for a farmhouse, a barn, and five acres of land on Long Island: $5,000

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $52,524.10

(Source: Jed Perl, New Art City)

– Amount paid in 1945 by Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner for a farmhouse, a barn, and five acres of land on Long Island: $5,000

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $52,524.10

(Source: Jed Perl, New Art City)

“‘There’s so much that I want to tell you,’ she said at last, ‘and it’s hard to explain. My life is full of jealousies and disappointments, you know. You get to hating people who do contemptible work and who get on just as well as you do. There are many disappointments in my profession, and bitter, bitter contempts!’ Her face hardened, and looked much older. ‘If you love the good thing vitally, enough to give up for it all that one must give up for it, then you must hate the cheap thing just as hard. I tell you, there is such a thing as creative hate! A contempt that drives you through fire, makes you risk everything and lose everything, makes you a long sight better than you ever knew you could be.'”

Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark

“‘There’s so much that I want to tell you,’ she said at last, ‘and it’s hard to explain. My life is full of jealousies and disappointments, you know. You get to hating people who do contemptible work and who get on just as well as you do. There are many disappointments in my profession, and bitter, bitter contempts!’ Her face hardened, and looked much older. ‘If you love the good thing vitally, enough to give up for it all that one must give up for it, then you must hate the cheap thing just as hard. I tell you, there is such a thing as creative hate! A contempt that drives you through fire, makes you risk everything and lose everything, makes you a long sight better than you ever knew you could be.'”

Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark

– Royalties earned by Willa Cather’s My

– Royalties earned by Willa Cather’s My