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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for November 5, 2009

TT: Julian Hope, R.I.P.

November 5, 2009 by Terry Teachout

lord_glendevon_1500235f.jpgThe man who made The Letter possible died a few weeks ago, though the news has only just been released.
Lord Glendevon, who went by his given name of Julian Hope, was the grandson and literary executor of Somerset Maugham, who wrote the play on which Paul Moravec and I based our opera. He was a noted opera director in his own right, and so he was enormously encouraging when Paul and I first approached him about adapting The Letter.
Alas, I never met Julian, who was too ill to attend the premiere of The Letter in Santa Fe. Judging by his affectionate obituaries, I missed out on an exceedingly good thing.
Paul, who got to know Julian a bit, passes on this reminiscence:

I met Julian for dinner in New York a few years ago to discuss plans and rights for The Letter. As steward of the Maugham estate, he enthusiastically supported the project and granted permission generously and expeditiously. I liked him immensely. He was a person of unpretentious intelligence and elegant civility, a true gentleman. We stayed in touch by e-mail and telephone as the project evolved, and though I didn’t know him well, I still feel as though I’ve lost a good friend.

Would that I could say the same!

TT: So you want to see a show?

November 5, 2009 by Terry Teachout

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway and off-Broadway 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, closes Jan. 10, reviewed here)

• Finian’s Rainbow (musical, G, suitable for children, dramatically inert but musically sumptuous, reviewed here)

• God of Carnage * (serious comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 3, reviewed here)

• Oleanna (drama, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, violence, reviewed here)

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

• A Steady Rain * (drama, R, totally unsuitable for children, closes Dec. 6, reviewed here)

• Superior Donuts (dark comedy, PG-13, violence, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

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

• The Emperor Jones (drama, PG-13, contains racially sensitive language, extended through Dec. 6, reviewed here)

• 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)

TT: Almanac

November 5, 2009 by Terry Teachout

“Not to go to the theatre is like making one’s toilet without a mirror.”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga und Paraliponema

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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