Archives for 2005

Several readers wrote to comment on yesterday’s posting about how the phrase No problem has replaced You’re welcome as a response to thanks. Here’s some of what some of them said:

– “The thing I detest down here [North Carolina]
is when you ask a salesperson if they have a three-handled widget and
he/she cheerfully says,

Several readers wrote to comment on yesterday’s posting about how the phrase No problem has replaced You’re welcome as a response to thanks. Here’s some of what some of them said:

– “The thing I detest down here [North Carolina]
is when you ask a salesperson if they have a three-handled widget and
he/she cheerfully says,

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:

– No Foreigners Beyond This Point (drama, PG, a brief bedroom scene, reviewed here, closes Sunday)

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:

– No Foreigners Beyond This Point (drama, PG, a brief bedroom scene, reviewed here, closes Sunday)

– Cost c. 1910 of Louis Armstrong’s first cornet, bought from a New Orleans pawnshop: $5

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $102.65

– Price for which the instrument was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 2001: $115,000

(Source: Michael Meckna, Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia)

– Cost c. 1910 of Louis Armstrong’s first cornet, bought from a New Orleans pawnshop: $5

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $102.65

– Price for which the instrument was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 2001: $115,000

(Source: Michael Meckna, Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia)

Ah, the apple trees,

Sunlit memories

Where the hammock swung.

On our backs we’d lie,

Looking at the sky

Till the stars were strung,

Only last July when the world was young.

Johnny Mercer, “When the World Was Young” (after Angele Vannier)

Ah, the apple trees,

Sunlit memories

Where the hammock swung.

On our backs we’d lie,

Looking at the sky

Till the stars were strung,

Only last July when the world was young.

Johnny Mercer, “When the World Was Young” (after Angele Vannier)