Archives for May 28, 2009

I just opened an envelope containing three “advance reading copies” of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. These are handsomely bound promotional paperbacks of the uncorrected galley proofs of Pops whose front cover and spine are essentially identical to the dust jacket of the finished book. I can now see for the first time what Pops will look like when it comes out on December 2.
Needless to say, I’m biased, but I think it’s the most beautifully designed of all my books–and now it’s real. I can hold it in my hand, turn the pages, and marvel at what Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and I have wrought.
I’m so proud I could burst.

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)

• God of Carnage * (serious comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes July 19, reviewed here)

• Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (drama, PG-13, some adult subject matter, accessible to adolescents with mature attention spans, closes June 14, reviewed here)

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

• Mary Stuart (drama, G, far too long and complicated for children, closes Aug. 16, reviewed here)

• The Norman Conquests (three related comedies, PG-13, comprehensively unsuitable for children, playing in repertory through July 25, reviewed here)

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

• Waiting for Godot * (drama, PG-13, accessible to intelligent and open-minded adolescents, closes July 12, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• Our Town (drama, G, suitable for mature children, reviewed here)

IN CHICAGO:

• The History Boys (drama, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, too intellectually complex for most adolescents, closes Aug. 2, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON ON BROADWAY:

• Exit the King * (disturbingly black comedy, PG-13, closes June 14, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• Ruined (drama, PG-13/R, sexual content and suggestions of extreme violence, closes June 28, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN DALLAS:

• Lost in the Stars (musical, PG-13, closes June 14, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN HOUSTON:

• Awake and Sing! (drama, PG-13, closes June 7, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN CHICAGO:

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

CLOSING SUNDAY IN ARLINGTON, VA.:

• Giant (musical, PG-13, far too long for children, reviewed here)

“Go for the pain, and the audience will laugh.”
Matthew Warchus, director of The Norman Conquests and God of Carnage (quoted in The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2009)