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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for February 6, 2019

Minor milestone

February 6, 2019 by Terry Teachout

I turned sixty-three today. Tonight Mrs. T, her father, and I are going to see Moses Pendleton’s Momix, a modern dance troupe that’s new to her and which I haven’t seen for longer than I can remember, at the University of Connecticut. We don’t see nearly enough dance, so this will be a special treat for both of us.

Otherwise, though, today is basically just another day for me. I’ve reached the time of life when birthdays don’t mean much of anything, at least not anything that you want to think about for any longer than you can help.

Ten years ago, though, my attitude was somewhat different, for I wrote these words in this space, and meant them:

Regular readers of this blog will scarcely need to be reminded that there was a time when I didn’t expect to live to see this day, or any others—but I got married, wrote an opera, and finished a biography instead of dying. Not bad for one lifetime.

No, indeed, and the past ten years have been, if not more eventful—I don’t see how that could have been possible—then very nearly so. I needn’t rehash that astonishing decade: you’ve read all about it here. Save for the loss of my mother, it was glorious in every conceivable way. But the past six months have also been pretty damned eventful, and not in a good way, either. Mrs. T and I were put through the wringer repeatedly, and we have every reason to expect stiff doses of more of the same between now and the day that the Big Call finally comes, at which time she—we, really—will be given a new start on life.

Both of us, however, know the inestimable value of what we’ve had throughout the past decade and a half, which is the gift of one another. That’s my birthday present, a gift that keeps on giving every day that I’m above ground, and there is no hour when I’m not overflowing with gratitude for it, as well as for the good friends—some old, some new, all beloved—who make the rest of my life a joy.

So I have no complaints, none whatsoever. Even when things go sour and get scary, I know I’m a lucky guy. May it stay that way, today and always.

*  *  *

An excerpt from Momix’s “Opus Cactus,” choreographed by Moses Pendleton:

Snapshot: Perry Como sings “Lucky to Be Me”

February 6, 2019 by Terry Teachout

Perry Como sings “Lucky to Be Me” (from On the Town), by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green. This performance was originally broadcast on NBC’s Chesterfield Supper Club on March 8, 1945:

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

Almanac: Rochefoucauld on good luck

February 6, 2019 by Terry Teachout

“Fortune turns all things to the advantage of those on whom she smiles.”

François de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims 

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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