Actually, I never left it–I merely shifted my reviewing activities elsewhere, and was more than glad to do so. But within hours of the settlement of the stagehands’ strike, three Broadway shows whose first nights had been temporarily scuttled were sending out press releases announcing that they would open their doors this week, just in time for me to work them into Friday’s drama column. Since I already had plenty of previously scheduled playgoing on my plate, not to mention a preview of the Sweeney Todd movie, this is what my appointment book looked like as of last Saturday morning:
• SATURDAY Wave goodbye to Mrs. T, who’s spending the first part of the week in Connecticut. Work on Louis Armstrong biography all afternoon. Meet The Rat for dinner, then take her to a preview of Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Cymbeline, directed by Mark Lamos.
• SUNDAY Two shows, West Bank, UK in the afternoon (accompanied by Lee Ann Westover of the Lascivious Biddies, who sang at my wedding) and Sweeney Todd in the evening (accompanied by Paul Moravec, who just finished writing the music for Scene 6 of The Letter). Go here for details.
• MONDAY Work on Armstrong all day, then head down to Broadway for the opening night of The Farnsworth Invention, Aaron Sorkin’s new play, accompanied by the friend who sent me this e-mail back in August.
• TUESDAY Write my “Sightings” column for the Saturday Journal, then return to Broadway for the opening night of August: Osage County, Tracy Letts’ new play, which is (gulp) three hours and twenty minutes long.
• WEDNESDAY Start writing Friday’s drama column. Tape a Commentary videoblog in the afternoon. Go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to catch the first part of Chanticleer‘s annual Christmas concert, then rush over to Broadway for the final preview of The Seafarer, Conor McPherson’s new play.
• THURSDAY Finish and file drama column. Collect Mrs. T at the train station. No show tonight. Really.
• FRIDAY Spend day working on the Armstrong biography and writing next week’s book column for the Commentary Web site, then escort Mrs. T to the Irish Repertory Theatre for a preview of their new production of George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple.
• SATURDAY To Milwaukee with Mrs. T, there to spend the weekend seeing all three installments of Milwaukee Rep‘s revival of Alan Ayckbourn‘s The Norman Conquests and (if possible) visiting the local art museum, which looks like…well, see for yourself.
• MONDAY Fly back to New York. Climb into a coffin of my native earth. Take the night off.
O.K., I know, it’s not exactly ditch-digging, but believe me, folks, that is hard work. And you’ll hear about all of it–sporadically. Intermittently. Occasionally. Mostly, though, I’ll be leaving the heavy lifting to CAAF and Our Girl, because this is One of Those Weeks.
Thank you, stagehands’ union. Thank you, League of Producers. I owe it all to you.
P.S. New Hot Fives and Out of the Past picks! Check ’em out.
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
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