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Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for 2021

Just because: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays Ravel

January 18, 2021 by Terry Teachout

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays the slow movement of Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto, accompanied by Sergiu Celidibache and the London Symphony: 

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

Almanac: Jean Anouilh on beauty

January 18, 2021 by Terry Teachout

“Things are beautiful if you love them.”

Jean Anouilh, Mademoiselle Colombe (trans. Louis Kronenberger)

The pandemic process

January 15, 2021 by Terry Teachout

A new episode of Three on the Aisle, the 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 American Theatre’s “official” summary of the proceedings: 

This month, as the scale of the economic devastation facing arts professionals continues to sink in, the critics forgo criticism to conduct interviews with creative theatre folks who are finding their way through this extraordinary time: Orange Is the New Black star Samira Wiley, who appeared in a starry Zoom production of Uncle Vanya last fall (and is in the upcoming film Breaking News in Yuba County); and actor/playwright Kate Hamill, best known for her adaptations of period classics, in which she also often appears, who recently starred with her husband, Jason O’Connell, in a video-captured Talley’s Folly at Syracuse Stage. The two artists talk about the tough choices they’ve made and their hopes for change in the field when it returns to production.

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

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

Classics for free

January 15, 2021 by Terry Teachout

In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column, I review two theatrical webcasts drawn from important New York productions of the past by the Hunter Theater Project and Shakespeare in the Park. Here’s an excerpt.

*  *  *

Sometimes you have to dig to find the best theatrical webcasts, while others are hiding in plain sight. Before the pandemic, WNET, New York’s PBS affiliate, used to telecast plays from Manhattan at irregular intervals. And some of its strongest offerings are still online for free on-demand viewing—if you know where to look.

One place, tucked deep within the thirteen.org website, is a page devoted to Channel 13’s “Theater Close-Up” series of off-Broadway productions. The most recent episode, one of the greatest Chekhov productions I’ve ever had the privilege to review, is the 2018 New York premiere of Richard Nelson’s adaptation of “Uncle Vanya,”the auspicious inaugural production of Hunter College’s Hunter Theater Project, in which professional stagings are mounted under the aegis of the Upper East Side school’s drama department. This concise “Vanya,” which was taped in front of a live and responsive audience, was performed in casual street clothes and modern English (Mr. Nelson, who was also the director, translated Chekhov’s play in collaboration with Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky). The goal in the theater was to make everything more intimate, with 12 area mikes used to boost the volume just enough so that the actors could throw away their lines and still be heard in every corner of the small black-box house.

Not only did it work there, but viewing it on a laptop with earphones proves to be just as successful, so much so that I can enthusiastically recommend this “Vanya” to Chekhov novices and connoisseurs alike….

Another noteworthy show that I recently ran across, available on WNET’s “All Arts” streaming platform, is an extreme rarity, a telecast of the 1973 Shakespeare in the Park outdoor production of “King Lear” directed by Edwin Sherin and starring James Earl Jones, Paul Sorvino and Raúl Juliá. Mr. Jones was not yet known as the resplendent bass voice of Darth Vader in 1973. Back then he was a distinguished stage actor who made occasional screen appearances (he had a small part in “Dr. Strangelove” and got a best-actor Oscar nomination for ‘The Great White Hope,” in which he had previously appeared on Broadway)….

*  *  *

Read the whole thing here.

Replay: Laurence Olivier in Uncle Vanya

January 15, 2021 by Terry Teachout

A scene from the 1963 film of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” directed by Laurence Olivier and starring Olivier, Rosemary Harris, and Michael Redgrave:

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

Almanac: Chekhov on friendship between men and women

January 15, 2021 by Terry Teachout

“A woman can be a man’s friend only in this sequence: first an acquaintance, then a mistress, and after that a friend.”

Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya

Almanac: Will and Ariel Durant on revolution

January 14, 2021 by Terry Teachout

“The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionaries are philosophers and saints.”

Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History

Snapshot: James Earl Jones in Fences

January 13, 2021 by Terry Teachout

James Earl Jones appears in a scene from the original Broadway production of August Wilson’s Fences, performed on the 1987 Tony Awards telecast:

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

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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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Recent Posts

  • Just because: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays Ravel
  • Almanac: Jean Anouilh on beauty
  • The pandemic process
  • Classics for free
  • Replay: Laurence Olivier in Uncle Vanya

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