Archives for January 2012

“The musical canon is not decided by majority opinion but by enthusiasm and passion, and a work that ten people love passionately is more important than one that ten thousand do not mind hearing.”
Charles Rosen, Critical Entertainments: Music Old and New

I spent the morning writing, after which Mrs. T and I went out on a dolphin cruise:

This is where we’re staying, seen from the boat…

…and from the beach:

As usual, we ended the day by watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico:

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.

BROADWAY:

• Anything Goes (musical, G/PG-13, mildly adult subject matter that will be unintelligible to children, extended through Sept. 9, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Godspell (musical, G, suitable for children, reviewed here)

• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical, G/PG-13, perfectly fine for children whose parents aren’t actively prudish, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Other Desert Cities (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Seminar (serious comedy, PG-13, closes Mar. 4, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Stick Fly (serious comedy, PG-13, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• 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)

• Million Dollar Quartet (jukebox musical, G, off-Broadway remounting of Broadway production, original run reviewed here)

IN SAN DIEGO:

• Dividing the Estate (drama, PG-13, remounting of Broadway production, adult subject matter, closes Feb. 12, reviewed here)

IN SANTA MONICA:

• Our Town (drama, G, remounting of off-Broadway production, suitable for mature children, closes Feb. 12, original run reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK ON BROADWAY:

• Chinglish (comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 29, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:

• Dancing at Lughnasa (drama, G/PG-13, closes Jan. 29, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN FORT MYERS, FLA.:

• God of Carnage (serious comedy, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY ON BROADWAY:

• Follies (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 22, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

“Whatever pretended pessimists in search of notoriety may say, most people are naturally kind, at heart.”
James Branch Cabell, The Cream of the Jest

Leopold Stokowski leads a studio orchestra in his arrangements of Bach’s “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” and “Little” Fugue in G Minor in The Big Broadcast of 1937:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday and Wednesday.)

“I have discovered that most people have no one to talk to, no one, that is, who really wants to listen. When it does at last dawn on a man that you really want to hear about his business, the look that comes over his face is something to see.”
Walker Percy, The Moviegoer

“There’s Hawkeye and Trapper John back in Korea. I never did like those guys. They fancied themselves super-decent and super-tolerant, but actually had no use for anyone who was not exactly like them. What they were was super-pleased with themselves. In truth, they were the real bigots, and phony at that. I always preferred Frank Burns, the stuffy, unpopular doc, a sincere bigot.”
Walker Percy, The Thanatos Syndrome

Mrs. T and I are holed up on Sanibel Island, off the coast of south Florida. I’m getting over a lingering cold, so we did as little as possible last week. I did contrive to see and review a play on the mainland, but mostly we slept late, walked on the beach, read books, and watched movies, taking time out each evening to see the sun set. I spent several blissful hours revisiting two beloved novels by William Maxwell, They Came Like Swallows and The Folded Leaf. Mrs. T cooked, I shopped and did the dishes, and a good time was had by all.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I started taking vacations for the first time in my life. I suspect it’s no coincidence that I’d never seen the sun set until then. Like so many things discovered in adulthood, sunsets remain a novelty to me, one that is permanently fresh and self-renewing. Each one is different, sometimes subtly and sometimes outrageously, and I never tire of standing beside Mrs. T and watching the golden ball slide out of sight, thinking as its brilliant light dies away of the lovely little poem by Charles Cotton that Benjamin Britten set in his Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings: The day’s grown old; the fainting sun/Has but a little way to run,/And yet his steeds, with all his skill,/Scarce lug the chariot down the hill.

I have quite a bit more on my plate this week than last. In addition to Friday’s Wall Street Journal drama column, I’ll be writing essays about Louis Jordan and Morten Lauridsen, a juxtaposition that promises to keep me hopping. But at least I’ll be doing my hopping here, which makes all the difference. We can see the Gulf of Mexico from the living room of our little cottage, and both of us regard that view as the purest of luxuries. Rain or shine, it’s the most beautiful sight and sound imaginable. Yes, I have to sing for my supper, for this is, after all, a working vacation (I rarely take any other kind). Still, I don’t know when I’ve been happier, nor can I imagine a time that will be better than this.

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Philip Langridge sings the “Pastoral” from Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, accompanied by Frank Lloyd, Steuart Bedford, and the English Chamber Orchestra: