Archives for March 18, 2010

I’ll be appearing today on Soundcheck, WNYC’s daily music series, to talk with John Schaefer about “The Unsure Artist,” my recent Wall Street Journal column about the uncertainties and anxieties of gifted artists. The show starts at two p.m. ET.
Listen live in the New York area by tuning to 93.9 FM, or go here to listen on your computer via streaming audio. As usual, the program will also be archived and can be downloaded as a podcast.

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:

• A Behanding in Spokane * (black comedy, PG-13, violence and adult subject matter, closes June 6, reviewed here)

• Fela! (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• God of Carnage (serious comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• The Miracle Worker (drama, G, too intense for small children, reviewed here)

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

• A View from the Bridge * (drama, PG-13, violence and some sexual content, closes Apr. 4, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

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

• The Boys in the Band (drama, R, adult subject matter, closes Mar. 28, reviewed here)

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• The Orphans’ Home Cycle, Parts 1, 2, and 3 (drama, G/PG-13, too complicated for children, now being performed in rotating repertory, closes May 8, reviewed here, here, and here)

• Our Town (drama, G, suitable for mature children, reviewed here)

• The Temperamentals (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:

• Venus in Fur (serious comedy, R, sexual content, closes Mar. 28, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN PRINCETON, N.J.:

• American Buffalo (drama, PG-13/R, violence and very strong language, transferred from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, closes Mar. 28, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN LENOX, MASS.:

• Les Liaisons Dangereuses (drama, R, violence and sexual content, reviewed here)

“It is not very comfortable to have the gift of being amused at one’s own absurdity.”
W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage