Archives for November 2018

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:
• The Band’s Visit (musical, PG-13, reviewed here)
• Dear Evan Hansen (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• The Ferryman (drama, PG-13, Broadway transfer of London production, many shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Hamilton (musical, PG-13, Broadway transfer of off-Broadway production, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• The Lifespan of a Fact (comedy, PG-13, closes Jan. 13, most shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• My Fair Lady (musical, G, reviewed here)
• The Prom (musical, PG-13, some shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• The Waverly Gallery (drama, PG-13, closes Jan. 27, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• Girl from the North Country (jukebox musical, PG-13, closes Dec. 23, reviewed here)
• Mother of the Maid (drama, PG-13, closes Dec. 23, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN EAST HADDAM, CONN.:
• The Drowsy Chaperone (musical, G/PG-13, too conceptually complicated for small children, reviewed here)

“Whoever tries to place a man or staff an organization to avoid weakness will end up at best with mediocrity. The idea that there are ‘well-rounded’ people, people who have only strengths and no weaknesses (whether the term used is the ‘whole man,’ the ‘mature personality,’ the ‘well-adjusted personality,’ or the ‘generalist’) is a prescription for mediocrity if not for incompetence.”

Peter F. Drucker, The Effective Executive (courtesy of Quote Investigator)

Ray Bolger performs Frank Loesser’s “Once in Love With Amy” (from Where’s Charley?) on “Big Time,” an episode of Max Liebman Presents, a monthly TV series originally telecast live by NBC on February 27, 1955. He is introduced by Martha Raye. Bolger created the number in the original 1948 Broadway production of the show, a musical version of Charley’s Aunt:

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

Authority intoxicates,
And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
And make men giddy, proud, and vain.

Samuel Butler, Miscellaneous Thoughts

Mrs. T is back in the hospital, this time in Connecticut rather than on the road. Unlike her last hospital stay, which was the direct result of a life-threatening crisis, this one isn’t as scary. She went to UConn John Dempsey Hospital eight days ago to undergo a routine test intended to monitor the progress of the chronic respiratory disease for which she will ultimately undergo a double lung transplant. While she was there, her doctors discovered that she had developed a staph infection at the site of the central line implanted in her chest through which she receives intravenous medication around the clock. Such infections are not uncommon and can be potentially dire, so she was hospitalized for treatment the very next day. Alas, one thing led to another, as often happens with central-line infections, and she’s been cooling her heels at UConn ever since.

The good news is that the infection is now under control. The bad news is that Mrs. T’s compromised central line had to be pulled—a procedure that proved to be far more painful than either of us expected—and it won’t be possible for the doctors at UConn to insert a new one until next week. For reasons too complicated and frustrating to explain in this space, she can’t spend the intervening time at home in Connecticut. Instead, she must remain in John Dempsey Hospital, where she’ll continue to receive the intravenous antibiotics necessary to ensure that the infection is gone for good. The initial stages of her treatment were inescapably unpleasant and things got pretty rough over the weekend, but Mrs. T, though she’s still in a fair amount of pain, is now resting more or less comfortably.

I’ve rearranged my work schedule to be with her, driving into New York to see shows and returning to Connecticut immediately afterward. Would that John Dempsey Hospital were a bit closer to our place in Storrs! No such luck, though: I spend two hours on the road each day, not counting the time needed to drive to Manhattan and back, as I did on Sunday afternoon to see a press preview of Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem at Lincoln Center. Fortunately, I’m accustomed to writing under adverse circumstances, and I’ve already knocked out a couple of Wall Street Journal columns in Mrs. T’s hospital room, which is brand-new and surprisingly spacious and attractive. While we’d rather be spending Thanksgiving somewhere else—anywhere else, truth to tell—we’re both well aware that things could be a whole lot worse.

My new routine is now set in stone. I commute from home to the hospital at midday and return at night. During the drive, I think about whatever I’m writing and listen to new albums and old favorites, taking my meals en route or in the hospital cafeteria (the minestrone is excellent). I continue to tape podcasts from Connecticut via Skype, and I’ve been amusing myself after visiting hours by working my way through Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey-Maturin novels for the umpteenth time.

Mostly, though, I sit with Mrs. T, playing music for her on my MacBook, chatting idly about this and that, and doing everything I can think of to distract her from the comprehensively disagreeable fact that she’s stuck in a hospital bed again. She is, as always, coping gallantly with the situation, and her doctors and nurses, who couldn’t be nicer, are all doing everything in their power to ensure that she’ll return home next week in far better shape than she was when she arrived last week.

As for me, I’m where I belong and where I want to be, looking after my life’s companion. For that inestimable privilege, I will unhesitatingly give thanks come Thursday, and no matter what the UConn hospital kitchen dishes up that day, I’ll eat it with gratitude. I know how lucky I am.

* * *

Billie Holiday sings Cole Porter’s “Easy to Love” in 1936. The band includes Ben Webster on tenor saxophone and Teddy Wilson on piano:

From 2008:

When Dad was on the road alone
And dined, alone, at night,
He wanted everything to be
Not passable, but right:
“A perfect baked potato
Demands the utmost care.
The only way to order steak
Is medium, not rare.”…

Read the whole thing here.

“The fundamental defect of fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them.”

Bertrand Russell, “Freedom Versus Authority in Education”

The twenty-second episode of Three on the Aisle, the twice-monthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for listening or downloading.

Here’s an excerpt from American Theatre’s “official” summary of the proceedings:

This episode, the critics talk about the musical spectacle King Kong: what it means for Broadway going forward, how long it might last, and whether it will one day earn a place on Joe Allen’s infamous wall of flops.

Then the critics speak with Academy Award-winning screenwriter, director, and playwright Kenneth Lonergan about the Broadway production of his play The Waverly Gallery, as well as the different skill sets required in writing for the stage and screen, not to mention his method for getting into the minds of the characters he creates.

To close the show, the critics recall times their critical quotes were taken out of context in the advertising for shows, and discuss their feelings on Beetlejuice at the National Theater in D.C., American Son Broadway, and Melissa Errico’s new album Sondheim Sublime.

To listen, download the latest episode, read more about it, or subscribe to Three on the Aisle, go here.

In case you missed any previous episodes, you’ll find them all here.