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Archives for February 11, 2016

The uninvited critics

February 11, 2016 by Terry Teachout

In today’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column I take a closer look a theatrical controversy in Los Angeles that made national headlines. Here’s an excerpt.

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12-TheWoosterGroup-TheRoom-Photo-by-Paula_Court-Pictured-are-Ari_Fliakos_Kate-Valk_Scott-RendererYou may have heard about the tempest that blew up last week over “The Room,” Harold Pinter’s first play. Written in 1957, it was revived in Los Angeles by the Wooster Group, a New York-based experimental theater troupe. A few days before the show was set to open, the Wooster Group and Redcat, the Los Angeles theater presenting “The Room,” put out a press release stating that Samuel French Inc., which handles the U.S. rights to Pinter’s plays, had refused to license this one unless the following condition was observed: “There may be absolutely no reviews of this production.” In other words, Redcat couldn’t invite drama critics. Mark Murphy, Redcat’s executive director, responded by hinting very broadly that Samuel French was treading on the free-speech rights of both the company and the critics: “It seems strange to me that anyone would think critical discourse about this seminal play could be somehow harmful.”

Free speech being the most sacred of journalistic rights, it stands to reason that the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times decided to run news stories about the controversy, and that the American Theatre Critics Association attacked the ban as ”objectionable behavior that tries to restrict not only artistic freedom of expression, but also freedom of the press.” Not at all surprisingly, Charles McNulty, the drama critic of the Los Angeles Times, bought a ticket and reviewed the show anyway. (For the record, he didn’t much care for it.)

But is that the whole story? Not quite.

To begin with, the Wooster Group goes in for high-concept productions that may or may not have anything to do with the plays they’re staging. When it produced Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones” in 1992, the title role, written for a black actor, was played by a white woman in blackface. So I initially assumed that the Pinter estate had ordered Samuel French to put the squeeze on what Mr. McNulty described as the Wooster Group’s “postmodern high jinks.” Had that been the case, I might well have flown to Los Angeles to raise the free-speech flag by reviewing the show myself. But like many snap assumptions, this one didn’t stand up to closer scrutiny. In a statement of his own, Bruce Lazarus, Samuel French’s executive director, said flatly that the Wooster Group had “announced the Los Angeles premiere…before securing the rights” to “The Room” and that the Pinter estate “would have withheld the rights” had it been asked first….

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Read the whole thing here.

So you want to see a show?

February 11, 2016 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:
• An American in Paris (musical, G, too complex for small children, reviewed here)
• The Color Purple (musical, PG-13, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Fun Home (serious musical, PG-13, some performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Hamilton (musical, PG-13, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• The King and I (musical, G, perfect for children with well-developed attention spans, reviewed here)
• Matilda (musical, G, reviewed here)
• Les Misérables (musical, G, too long and complicated for young children, closes Sept. 4, reviewed here)
• Noises Off (farce, PG-13, many performances sold out last week, closes March 6, reviewed here)
• On Your Feet! (jukebox musical, G, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)
• The Flick (serious comedy, PG-13, too long for young people with limited attention spans, reviewed here)
sense-and-sensibility_bedlam-theatre_opt• Sense & Sensibility (serious romantic comedy, G, remounting of 2014 off-Broadway production, closes April 10, original production reviewed here)

IN SARASOTA, FLA.:
• Ah, Wilderness! (comedy, PG-13, closing April 10, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN SARASOTA, FLA.:
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (drama, PG-13, closing Feb. 20, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:
• Sweat (drama, PG-13, remounting of Oregon Shakespeare Festival production, closing Feb. 21, original production reviewed here)

Almanac: Nero Wolfe on poverty

February 11, 2016 by Terry Teachout

INK BOTTLE“To be broke is not a disgrace, it is only a catastrophe.”

Rex Stout, The League of Frightened Men

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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