Archives for 2013

“Cap, who sometimes had a problem working out when Dalziel’s political incorrectness was post-modern ironical and when it was prehistoric offensive, turned the sound back on.”
Reginald Hill, Death’s Jest-Book (courtesy of Mrs. T)

András Schiff, Simon Rattle, and the Birmingham Symphony perform the first movement of Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto:

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

“Happiness lies in the consciousness we have of it, and by no means in the way the future keeps its promises.”
George Sand, Handsome Lawrence

I’m the furthest thing from a music critic, but I saw something I loved, so here you go. Last weekend Chicago’s Lyric Opera premiered a new production of Oklahoma! directed by Gary Griffin. It’s a special show. The music and singing are as full-blooded and full-throated as you would expect of the Lyric. As Chris Jones wrote in his Chicago Tribune review, “listening to a full-sized orchestra playing the original orchestrations” is an “increasingly rare treat.” Saturday night it did feel rare and rich.
The production had visual magic too. The first thing you get to look at, during the overture, is an achingly lovely painted backdrop–a criss-cross of crops in pinks and purples against a butter-yellow sky. It’s a recognizably American, fruited-plain landscape rendered in a wistful palette that reminded me of Pierre Bonnard. The sets themselves–house, barn, shed–are classic, solid Americana against the impressionism of the backdrops, echoing the show’s two registers.
The heart of Oklahoma! is its songs, of course, and they were well served here. I got a series of shivers during the iconic title song, hard and bright, with its beeline for the nerve endings. I wished it would go on and on. But the show’s soul, for me, lies in the darker dream interlude at the end of Act I, which works more mysteriously on those nerves as the show shifts from one dramatic language to another.
This sequence, in the Lyric’s production, is unforgettable. A gorgeous piece of dancing, it’s also authentic–the 91-year-old Gemze de Lappe, who danced in Oklahoma! in 1943, recreated Agnes de Mille’s original choreography for the Lyric, to wondrous effect. I was entranced–almost literally. (Incidentally, it also put me in mind of Chicago Shakespeare’s 2011 production of Follies, also directed by Griffin–a connection I didn’t make when I was watching.) The whole show is strong, the musicians wonderful. But if you need an extra reason to get there, look no further than the jewel-like choreography and dancing, reaching heights in Laurey’s dream (the corps de ballet’s brightly colored dresses invoke jewels, but so does the crystallized, luminous quality of the whole).
Oklahoma! is the first of five Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals the Lyric will stage the next five springs. It runs through May 19. Go go go.
UPDATE: I’ve fixed a deplorable–yet unsurprising if you know me–error above, replacing Tribune hockey writer Chris Kuc’s name with that of the paper’s wonderful theater critic and true author of the review quoted, Chris Jones. I’m embarrassed to have made this mistake, the more so since I’ve met Jones and greatly admire his work. Lessons learned: (1) Mix writing with sudden-death overtime playoff hockey with caution. (2) Proofread.
If you need me, I’ll be in the penalty box.

From 2006:

One of my mother’s most treasured heirlooms is a copy of the second edition of Our Baby’s First Seven Years, the “baby book” in which she set down the particulars of my early childhood. I flipped through its yellowed pages yesterday, and as I set out on the longish three-leg trip (two hours by land, two at the airport in St. Louis, three in the sky) from Smalltown, U.S.A., back to New York City, it occurs to me that you might be amused by some of what I found there….

Read the whole thing here.

“He who is everywhere is nowhere.”
Seneca, Epistles

Evelyn Teachout, my beloved mother, died a year ago. This is what I wrote about her the next day.
Today and always, Mrs. T and I bless her memory.
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I’m taking the week off. Except for the usual theater-related items, daily almanac entries, and other regular postings, I won’t be blogging again until May 13.

“Koto Song,” composed by Dave Brubeck and performed by the Brubeck Quartet in 1966. Paul Desmond is the alto saxophonist, Eugene Wright the bassist, Joe Morello the drummer:

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