Archives for November 29, 2007

(1) Yes, we have a new toy.
(2) Yes, I’m playing with it.
(3) Yes, I’m having fun.
(4) No, I don’t know how to upload audio files yet. Don’t get greedy.

Earlier this year the soon-to-be Mrs. T and I purchased a Jane Wilson watercolor called “Breaking Light.” It was part of DC Moore Gallery’s most recent exhibition of Wilson’s work, about which I blogged here.

This is the watercolor:

A couple of weeks ago, DC Moore sent us a copy of Valerie Gladstone’s review of the show, which appeared in the March issue of ARTnews. Much to our surprise, “Breaking Light” was mentioned in the review:

Like Bonnard and Rothko, whose works resonate in a number of these paintings, Wilson employs color in various innotative ways to produce depth and create surface vitality. Her skies are so immense, they dwarf the land and sea beneath them…

The artist’s watercolors were as compelling as her oils, albeit softer and with a more liquid feeling. This was abundantly apparent in her brooding aquamarine painting Breaking Light (2003).

Pretty cool, huh?

Midder Music is releasing a two-CD set of previously unreleased recordings by my old friend Nancy LaMott on February 12. It’s a sequel of sorts to Live at Tavern on the Green, the 2005 album of performances taped at her last nightclub engagement. (I wrote about that CD here.)
Ask Me Again, the new album, will contain twenty tracks, including “Call Me Irresponsible,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Easy to Love,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” “The Wind Beneath My Wings,” and a Stephen Sondheim medley. I haven’t heard it yet, but I heard Nancy sing most of the songs on Ask Me Again at one time or another, and I have no doubt that you’ll enjoy them now as much as I did then.
In addition to the CD, Midder also plans to release a companion DVD called I’ll Be Here With You: A Collection of Rare Live Performances 1978-1995. Among other things, it will include a version of “Moon River” that Nancy sang on The Charles Grodin Show nine days before her death in 1995.
For more details, go here.

It’s true! It’s true! The Broadway stagehands’ strike has been tentatively settled. Some shows are expected to reopen immediately, but few specific details were available as of late Wednesday night, though it’s generally expected that virtually all shows will be up and running by the weekend.

One show, Chicago, is offering a one-time cut-rate ticket price of $26.50 for Thursday night’s performance, available only at the box office. I’ll update this posting throughout the day with news of any similar offers. (As of noon today, no other shows have announced discounts for tonight’s performances.)

In the meantime, here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. (I like Chicago, too, but I haven’t seen the Broadway production since 2005 and can’t tell you what shape it’s in now.)

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)

• A Chorus Line (musical, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• The Drowsy Chaperone (musical, G/PG-13, mild sexual content and a profusion of double entendres, reviewed here)

• Grease (musical, PG-13, some sexual content, reviewed here)

• Rock ‘n’ Roll (drama, PG-13, way too complicated for kids, 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, closes Jan. 20, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children old enough to enjoy a love story, reviewed here)

• The Glorious Ones (musical, R, extremely bawdy, closes Jan. 6, reviewed here)

• Things We Want (drama, R, adult subject matter, closes Dec. 30, reviewed here)

CHICAGO:

• A Park in Our House (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Dec. 9, reviewed here)

• What the Butler Saw (comedy, R, extremely adult subject matter, closes Dec. 9, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN NEW YORK:

• Pygmalion * (comedy, G, suitable for mature and intelligent young people, closes Dec. 16, reviewed here)

“The secret of biography resides in finding the link between talent and achievement. A biography seems irrelevant if it doesn’t discover the overlap between what the individual did and the life that made this possible. Without discovering that, you have shapeless happenings and gossip.”
Leon Edel, interview in Writers at Work, Eighth Series