Archives for May 1, 2008

• At MetaxuCafé, a cadre of great contributors are providing ongoing coverage of the PEN World Voices Festival, which continues through Sunday.
• A short film inspired by Leonora Carrington’s “The Debutante.” In a very modern piece of addenda, there’s a note from one of Carrington’s grandsons in the comments. Like the Mansfield and Keogh stories I linked to Tuesday, “The Debutante” is another very, very short story about what it’s like to be a young girl, though it’s the only one of the three to feature a hyena. I smell a bit strong, eh?
If you’re not familiar with Carrington, you can start with this profile; and I wrote a little about her amazing novel, The Hearing Trumpet here.
• His novel is still two weeks from publication, and my James Frey fatigue has already set in.

Note the time stamp on this posting. I got back from my trip to Santa Fe (about which much, much more later) ten minutes ago, and I slept roughly three hours out of the past forty-eight.
I’m turning off my computer and phone for the next eight hours. Or twelve.

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.

Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.

BROADWAY:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, suitable for bright children, reopened Tuesday, reviewed here)

• August: Osage County (drama, R, adult subject matter, reopened Tuesday, reviewed here)

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• A Chorus Line * (musical, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• Cry-Baby * (musical, PG-13, mildly naughty and very cynical, reviewed here)

• Grease * (musical, PG-13, some sexual content, reviewed here)

• Gypsy * (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• In the Heights (musical, PG-13, some sexual content, reviewed here)

• The Little Mermaid * (musical, G, entirely suitable for children, reviewed here)

• Macbeth * (drama, PG-13, unsuitable for children, closes May 24, reviewed here)

• November (comedy, PG-13, profusely spattered with obscene language, reviewed here)

• Passing Strange (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• South Pacific * (musical, G/PG-13, some sexual content, brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness, reviewed here)

• Sunday in the Park with George * (musical, PG-13, too complicated for children, closes June 29, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• Adding Machine (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, too musically demanding for youngsters, extended through Aug. 31, reviewed here)

• The Four of Us (comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, extended through May 18, reviewed here)

• From Up Here (drama, PG-13, closes June 8, reviewed here)

IN MILLBURN, N.J.:

• Kiss Me, Kate (musical, PG-13, far too sophisticated for children, close May 18, reviewed here)

ON TOUR:

• Moby-Dick–Rehearsed (drama, G, not suitable for children, touring the U.S. through May 17, reviewed here)

“Oh, pity every man who comes hard to the knowledge that underneath his bright, sure consciousness he is not himself but Everyman.
“Fate, I thought. Who is equal to it? For to be equal to fate is to be equal to the knowledge that everything we have achieved, endured and been proud and ashamed of is nothing.”
Hugh MacLennan, The Watch That Ends the Night