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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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TT: Five myths, direct from Pyongyang

March 1, 2008 by Terry Teachout

102707korea.jpgI stirred up quite a storm with my two columns in The Wall Street Journal about the New York Philharmonic’s visit to North Korea. Now the trip has come and gone, and a fair amount of nonsense is being talked about it, both by Lorin Maazel, the orchestra’s music director, and by the arts community in general. So my “Sightings” column in today’s Journal returns once more to the subject. Here’s a sample.
* * *
Now that the New York Philharmonic has paid its long-awaited visit to North Korea, the floodtide of justificatory gush has begun. Lorin Maazel, the orchestra’s music director, intoned that “in the world of music, all men and women are brothers and sisters.” A South Korean newspaper described the trip as “an overture to peace between the North and the United States.” The Los Angeles Times called it “a publicity coup for an institution…much in need of a lift.” And Eric Clapton says he’s been invited to play in Pyongyang.
Eric Clapton?
Things are starting to get a little silly here. So before any more 62-year-old rock stars decide to hop the next plane to Pyongyang, allow me to point out five mistaken ideas about the Philharmonic’s concert….
* * *
To read the whole thing, go here.

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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