Archives for 2012

Just because I’m up at the MacDowell Colony to work on my Duke Ellington book doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about Satchmo at the Waldorf. On Tuesday I e-mailed the final pre-rehearsal version of the script to John Douglas Thompson, Gordon Edelstein, and my other collaborators. This is the version that John will present as a one-night-only staged reading at the Vineyard Playhouse on July 9. Alas, I can’t be there, but I’m excited anyway.
I’m also extremely pleased to report that John is on the cover of the July/August issue of American Theatre. The accompanying article, by Rob Weinert-Kendt, is as good as it could possibly be. Would that Rob’s piece were available on line, but at least you can gaze at the cover photo, which shows John in costume as Louis Armstrong. Wow, huh?
In case it’s slipped your mind, we open at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts, on August 22, and at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, on October 10 (with previews starting on October 3). See you there, I hope.

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, closes Aug. 5, reviewed here)

• The Best Man (drama, PG-13, closes Sept. 9, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Evita (musical, PG-13, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Once (musical, G/PG-13, all performances sold out last week, 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)

• Tribes (drama, PG-13, closes Sept. 2, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN CHICAGO:

• Floyd Collins (musical, G, very problematic for children, closes July 15, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN PASADENA, CALIF.:

• Jitney (drama, PG-13, transfer of South Coast Repertory revival, closes July 15, original run reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY ON BROADWAY:

• The Columnist (drama, PG-13/R, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY OFF BROADWAY:

• 4000 Miles (drama, PG-13, reviewed here)

• Man and Superman (serious comedy, G, far too long and complex for children of any age, reviewed here)

• Storefront Church (drama, PG-13, reviewed here)

“If it is abuse, why one is always sure to hear of it from one damned good-natured friend or another.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Critic

Mabel Mercer sings “Lazy Afternoon” on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood:

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

“What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.”
George Bernard Shaw, John Bull’s Other Island

From 2003:

I belong to the last generation to have grown up without VCRs. Born in 1956, I was raised in a small town that had one movie theater. The only “arty” films I saw in high school were 2001: A Space Odyssey and Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet. The nearest public TV station was in St. Louis, just beyond the range of our rooftop antenna–this was before the invention of cable TV–so it wasn’t until I left home to go to college that I saw any old movies other than an occasional Saturday-afternoon John Wayne….

Read the whole thing here.

“Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.”
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

Mary Lou Williams plays the blues in 1980:

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