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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for August 23, 2012

TT: Boy, did this feel good!

August 23, 2012 by Terry Teachout

SatchmoSCO12KSPRA.0250.JPG

TT: The moment’s over

August 23, 2012 by Terry Teachout

The first preview of Satchmo at the Waldorf was extremely successful. We’ll soon see whether subsequent audiences are as enthusiastic. That said, the first-nighters showed every sign of loving it, and then some.
111005014716-swagger-bull-durham-horizontal-gallery.jpgStanding ovations are nice–and yes, we got one–but Satchmo at the Waldorf still has a long way to go before crossing the finish line, and all of us know it. While John Douglas Thompson, Gordon Edelstein, and I permitted ourselves to revel briefly in the applause, we were already discussing possible nips and tucks in the script ten minutes after the auditorium had emptied out. (What a pleasure it is to work with people who don’t know the meaning of the words “good enough”!) I even wrote a couple of new lines for tonight’s performance before hitting the hay. By the time most of you read these words, we’ll be back in rehearsal. We’re determined to make this show as good as it can possibly be.
To all of you who sent good wishes yesterday, my heartfelt thanks. You buoyed me up.
Now, back to work!

TT: A week of Satchmo (IV)

August 23, 2012 by Terry Teachout

Louis Armstrong and the All Stars perform “The Bare Necessities” on the BBC in 1968:

TT: Almanac

August 23, 2012 by Terry Teachout

“When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, ‘We’re all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.’ If you’re not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that.”
David Mamet, Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama

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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