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Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for February 19, 2015

San Francisco, here we come!

February 19, 2015 by Terry Teachout

Not to put too fine a point on it, but my Wednesday was brutal. It started in Manhattan, where I got up at five-thirty, took a cab to LaGuardia, flew back down to Orlando, spent a few hasty minutes with Mrs. T, then hit the road again, this time for a two-and-a-half-hour drive through rush-hour Florida traffic to see a production of West Side Story in Vero Beach (about which more in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, assuming that I don’t collapse from exhaustion before filing my review).

Road_Trips_Terry_Teachout_John_Douglas_ThompsonI drove all the way back to our hotel after the show and checked my e-mail at half past midnight, at which point things finally started looking up. It seems that today’s San Francisco Chronicle contains a story about American Conservatory Theatre’s newly announced 2015-16 season in which (drum roll) John Douglas Thompson and I figure prominently.

Here’s how it starts:

Will Eno’s unusual Broadway hit, world premieres by Philip Kan Gotanda and Sean San José and acclaimed New York actor John Douglas Thompson portraying both Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis highlight the five plays of the 2015-16 American Conservatory Theater subscription season announced this week.

A Eugene O’Neill classic and a new blues and gospel musical are also on the roster, as is ACT’s annual nonsubscription holiday offering of “A Christmas Carol.” The remaining plays in the regular season will be announced at a later date, along with the order in which the plays will be presented.

Magic Theatre Artistic Director Loretta Greco returns to ACT to direct the innovative Eno’s 2014 Broadway debut, “The Realistic Jones,” a tale about new neighboring couples, both named Jones, that has been described as a sitcom situation seen through surrealistic lenses. Thompson garnered raves in the solo “Satchmo at the Waldorf,” a biodrama by theater critic Terry Teachout in which Thompson plays the title role and a host of other characters, executing a heated exchange between jazz titans Armstrong and Davis….

A.C.T. is, of course, one of America’s top regional theater companies—the last show I saw there was a 2012 revival of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame starring Bill Irwin—so this production is quite a coup for John, Satchmo, and me.

No dates yet—I’ll let you know when I know.

Read the whole thing here.

So you want to see a show?

February 19, 2015 by Terry Teachout

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:
• Cabaret (musical, PG-13/R, most performances sold out last week, closes Mar. 29, reviewed here)
• A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (musical, PG-13, some performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• It’s Only a Play (comedy, PG-13/R, extended through June 7, reviewed here)
• Matilda (musical, G, reviewed here)
• Les Misérables (musical, G, too long and complicated for young children, reviewed here)
• On the Town (musical, G, contains double entendres that will not be intelligible to children, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
AR-AI755_Theate_GV_20150212193452• Between Riverside and Crazy (drama, PG-13, remounting of off-Broadway production, closes Mar. 22, original production reviewed here)
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)
• The Iceman Cometh (drama, PG-13, remounting of Chicago production, closes Mar. 15, original production reviewed here)

IN SARASOTA, FLA.:
• Both Your Houses (political satire, G/PG-13, closes Apr. 12, reviewed here)
• The Matchmaker (romantic farce, G, closes Apr. 11, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN JUPITER, FLA.:
• Glengarry Glen Ross (drama, R, closes Feb. 22, reviewed here)

Almanac: Stefan Zweig on coincidence and fate

February 19, 2015 by Terry Teachout

INK BOTTLE“But only in youth does coincidence seem the same as fate. Later, we know that the real course of our lives is decided within us; our paths may seem to diverge from our wishes in a confused and pointless way, but in the end the way always leads us to our invisible destination.”

Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday (trans. Anthea Bell)

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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