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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for May 13, 2010

TT: So you want to see a show?

May 13, 2010 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:

• La Cage aux Folles * (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• Fela! (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• Fences * (drama, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, closes July 11, reviewed here)

• God of Carnage (serious comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes June 27, reviewed here)

• Million Dollar Quartet (jukebox musical, G, reviewed here)

• South Pacific (musical, G/PG-13, some sexual content, brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness, closes Aug. 22, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

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

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

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

• The Glass Menagerie (drama, G, too dark for children, closes June 13, reviewed here)

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

CLOSING SOON ON BROADWAY:

• A Behanding in Spokane (black comedy, PG-13, violence and adult subject matter, closes June 6, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• Doctor Knock, or The Triumph of Medicine (satire, G, not easily accessible to children, closes June 6, reviewed here)

• The Temperamentals (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes May 30, reviewed here)

TT: You can count on me

May 13, 2010 by Terry Teachout

A reader writes:

Loved your book. Found out about your website. Read, with astonishment, your review of Million Dollar Quartet and decided to take my son, who is a thirteen-and-a-half-year-old musician. Saw it last night and loved it. My son came home, whipped out his guitar and played songs from the show for two hours. The concept was so cheesy that I made fun of it, mercilessly, when I heard about it. Never would have gone without reading your review, so…thanks.
P.S. A few months ago my wife and I took our son and daughter to see Our Town, also largely based on your review. Our of the best drama experiences we’ve ever had. Keep those recommendations coming.

I love getting mail like this. It means a lot to me to know that my reviews have caused people to see shows that they wouldn’t otherwise have seen.
I hope I don’t need to add, by the way, that I take that responsibility very seriously indeed. Theater tickets cost a lot these days. I promise never to deliberately waste your money, or to overpraise a show simply because I think it “deserves” to do well. When I rave about a show, it’s for one reason only: because I think it’s good.

TT: Almanac

May 13, 2010 by Terry Teachout

“The thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others.”
Anton Chekhov, “An Evil Night”

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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