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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for March 16, 2006

TT: AWOL

March 16, 2006 by Terry Teachout

My beautiful new iBook has been suffering from a mysterious complaint, so I called the wonder-working women of Ms Mac, who took it away for a night and brought it back it at noon today, better than new. As a result, though, a whole day went by during which I was unable to blog, read my e-mail, surf the Web, or do any of the things to which I normally devote so much of my waking life. Instead, I curled up on the couch with a short stack of Barbara Pym novels and spent Wednesday afternoon reading for pleasure. When not reading, I looked at the art on the walls. I didn’t even listen to music! In the evening I took a cab up to Harlem and dined on pulled pork and smoked sausage at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Then I returned home, called my mother, watched a little TV, and went to bed early, content with the world.


I had a perfectly lovely time, but by the time Thursday rolled around I was starting to get a little itchy, and I confess to having been slightly relieved when Ms Mac returned my computer and I plugged myself back into the world. It’s one thing to take a day off by prior arrangement, another to have it thrust upon you. At any rate, I’m now back in business, chipping away at my accumulated e-mail and already feeling slightly wistful as my impromptu holiday recedes in the rear-view mirror. It was nice whle it lasted….

TT: So you want to see a show?

March 16, 2006 by Terry Teachout

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway and off-Broadway shows, updated weekly. 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 and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

– Bridge & Tunnel* (solo show, PG-13, some adult subject matter, reviewed here, closes July 9)

– Chicago* (musical, R, adult subject matter and sexual content)

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

– The Light in the Piazza (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter and a brief bedroom scene, closes July 2, reviewed here)

– Sweeney Todd (musical, R, adult subject matter, 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:

– Abigail’s Party (drama, R, adult subject matter, reviewed here, closes Apr. 8)

– Bernarda Alba (musical, R, adult subject matter and sexual content, reviewed here, closes April 9)

– Defiance (drama, R, adult subject matter and sexual content, reviewed here, closes May 7)

– I Love You Because (musical, R, sexual content, reviewed here)

– The Lieutenant of Inishmore (black comedy, R, adult subject matter and extremely graphic violence, reviewed here, closes April 9 and moves to Broadway April 18)

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

TT: Almanac

March 16, 2006 by Terry Teachout

“The way one betrays one’s old loves–getting the new one to read Trivia or Matthew Arnold, going to the same churchyard. When we are older there seems no new approach left. The disillusionment of finding out that something (say Trivia) has been his thing with someone else.”


Barbara Pym, undated notebook entry (c. 1949)

TT: How well do you know me?

March 16, 2006 by Terry Teachout

I found this questionnaire in my e-mailbox earlier today and thought it might be fun to answer it in public:

• What time did you get up this morning? Eight a.m.

• Diamonds or pearls? No preference.

• What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Believe it or not, Capote.

• What is your favorite TV show? I really don’t have one, though I’ve been enjoying the reruns of The Equalizer currently playing on Sleuth TV.

• What did you have for breakfast? Grape-Nuts and skim milk, with a few raisins thrown in.

• What is your middle name? Alan.

• What is your favorite cuisine?, Er, yikes, that’s a tough one! Maybe sushi?

• What food do you dislike? Blue cheese.

• What is your favorite potato chip? Salt and vinegar, mmmmm.

• What is your favorite CD at the moment? Rosanne Cash’s Black Cadillac….

• What kind of car do you drive? I don’t have one.

• Favorite sandwich? Grilled ham (smoked salmon is a very close second, though).

• What characteristics do you despise? Thoughtlessness.

• What are your favorite clothes? I don’t think much about clothes and don’t have any strong preferences.

• If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you
go?
Bologna, to see the Museo Morandi.

• What color is your bathroom? Yellow and cornflower blue.

• Favorite brand of clothing? I don’t have one.

• Where would you want to retire to? I hope never to retire.

• Favorite time of day? The blue hour.

• Where were you born? Cape Girardeau, Mo.

• Favorite sport to watch? Hockey, with Our Girl.

• Who do you least expect to send this back? Not applicable.

• Who will be the first to respond? Ditto.

• Coke or Pepsi? I like them equally.

• Are you a morning person or night owl? Night owl.

• Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with everyone? Nothing I’m inclined to share just yet.

• What did you want to be when you were little? A fireman.

• What is a favorite childhood memory? Spending holidays with my aunts, uncles, and cousins out in the country.

• What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Musical-instrument repairman, bank teller, jazz musician, library clerk, editor, writer.

• Nicknames? None in current use (I’ve been going by “Terry” for so long that I don’t think of it as a nickname).

• Any piercings? Lord, no.

• Eye color? Brown.

• Ever been to Africa? No.

• Ever been toilet papering? No.

• Been in a car accident? No.

• Favorite day of the week? As a friend of mine likes to say, every day above ground is a good day.

• Favorite restaurant? Good Enough to Eat, of course!

• Favorite flower? I’m not fussy.

• Favorite ice cream? Alas, I’m off ice cream these days.

• Favorite fast food restaurant? Taco Bell.

• Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Sotheby’s.

• Bedtime? These days, 12:30 or so.

• Who are you most curious about their responses to this
questionnaire?
Our Girl, naturally.

• Last person(s) you went to dinner with? Hilary, Corbin, and Henry.

• What are you listening to right now? The traffic on 82nd Street.

• What is your favorite color? I haven’t one.

• How many tattoos do you have? None.

• Who was the last e-mail you got before this one? I can’t remember–I was sifting through a whole day’s worth of accumulated e-mail, most of it junk, when I found this questionnaire.

• How many people are you sending this e-mail to? Thousands and thousands!

• What time did you finish this e-mail? One-thirty-five p.m.

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]

About

About “About Last Night”

This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]

About My Plays and Opera Libretti

Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. That production was directed … [Read More...]

About My Podcast

Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]

About My Books

My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]

The Long Goodbye

To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]

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