Peter Pears sings the epilogue to Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd in a production conducted by the composer and telecast on the BBC in 1966:
(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday and Wednesday.)
Archives for October 2012
TT: Almanac
“The topical is poison.”
Flannery O’Connor, letter to Betty Hester, Sept. 1, 1963
NOVEL
The Little House Books: The Library of America Collection. The Library of America has just reissued Laura Ingalls Wilder’s autobiographical novels of frontier life on the American prairie, originally published between 1932 and 1943, in a two-volume slipcovered set edited and annotated by Caroline Fraser. These “children’s novels” are permanent classics of American literature. If, like me, you first encountered them when young but didn’t read them again until middle age, you’ll be astonished by how good they are–and how poetic. I miss Garth Williams’ lovely illustrations, but you don’t need them to appreciate Wilder’s gifts (TT).
FILM
Children of Paradise. Marcel Carné’s exquisite 1945 backstage romance about the world of nineteenth-century French theater, one of the few movies that aspires to the richness of a great novel, is now available from the Criterion Collection in a two-disc set larded with bonus features. The film itself, which is presented in a freshly struck, meticulously restored print, has never looked better. Says David Thomson: “It is the simple truth that Renoir or Ophüls would have been proud to sign this film.” See it now (TT).
BOOK
The Richard Burton Diaries (Yale, $35). Most of the entries were made between 1965 and 1972, and they reveal Burton to have been an acerbic, formidably well-read man with strong opinions about literature–and everything else. Yes, there’s plenty of gossip, especially about Elizabeth Taylor, but eggheads will also find much to like and ponder (TT).
MUSICAL
Marry Me a Little (Keen Company, Clurman, 410 W. 42, closes Oct. 27). A 70-minute jukebox musical–one set, two actors and a pianist–about two young apartment dwellers who live on adjacent floors of the same building and dream of finding romantic partners. The score consists of little-known songs by Stephen Sondheim, most of which were cut from his shows prior to their New York openings. Short, smart, and sweet, and Lauren Molina, who plays “Her,” is extraordinarily good (TT).
DVD
Damsels in Distress (Sony). Now out on DVD, Whit Stillman’s poignant little low-budget romcom about college life whose protagonists, a band of invincibly innocent young women led by Greta Gerwig, endeavor to socialize and redeem the young men they love by starting an international dance craze. (Well, sort of.) Fey, whimsical, talky, and quintessentially Stillmanesque (TT).
CD
Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club (Storyville, two CDs). This hugely important release contains cleaned-up transfers of all surviving radio broadcasts made by Ellington between 1937 and 1939. Most of them have circulated for years, but this is the first time that they’ve ever been made available in a single package. Listening to these performances is like spending a blissful evening in the Wayback Machine. First-class liner notes by Andrew Homzy (TT).