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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for May 15, 2008

THE ALL-AMERICAN CHOREOGRAPHER

May 15, 2008 by Terry Teachout

“Jerome Robbins is still so much with us ten years after his death that it’s possible to take his achievements for granted–and easy to forget how startling they looked when they were new…”

BOOK

May 15, 2008 by Terry Teachout

Richard Stark, Dirty Money (Grand Central, $23.99). Flash: Parker’s back. The ruthless burglar you hate to love is out to retrieve, launder, and spend the money he stole and stashed four years ago in Nobody Runs Forever, and–as usual–he’ll do anything to get what he wants. Cold, amoral, and impeccably professional, Parker is Donald E. Westlake’s most memorable and disturbing creation, and the twenty-fourth of his published capers is every bit as satisfying as its predecessors. Mr. Anecdotal Evidence had an instant conversion experience after reading No. 23, Ask the Parrot. What are you waiting for? (TT).

TT: So you want to see a show?

May 15, 2008 by Terry Teachout

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 (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.


Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.


BROADWAY:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, suitable for bright children, reviewed here)

• August: Osage County (drama, R, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• Boeing-Boeing (comedy, PG-13, cartoonishly sexy, reviewed here)

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

• Cry-Baby (musical, PG-13, mildly naughty and very cynical, reviewed here)

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

LUPONE%20IN%20GYPSY.jpg• Gypsy (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• In the Heights (musical, PG-13, some sexual content, reviewed here)

• The Little Mermaid * (musical, G, entirely suitable for children, reviewed here)

• Macbeth * (drama, PG-13, unsuitable for children, closes May 24, reviewed here)

• November (comedy, PG-13, profusely spattered with obscene language, reviewed here)

• Passing Strange (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• South Pacific * (musical, G/PG-13, some sexual content, brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness, reviewed here)

• Sunday in the Park with George (musical, PG-13, too complicated for children, closes June 29, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• Adding Machine (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, too musically demanding for youngsters, closes Aug. 31, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• From Up Here (drama, PG-13, closes June 8, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY OFF BROADWAY:

• Endgame (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• The Four of Us (comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN MILLBURN, N.J.:

• Kiss Me, Kate (musical, PG-13, far too sophisticated for children, reviewed here)

TT: Almanac

May 15, 2008 by Terry Teachout

“A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.”
Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

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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