Archives for April 2011

“Now he discovered that secret from which one never quite recovers, that even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other.”
Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey

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:

• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical, G/PG-13, perfectly fine for children whose parents aren’t actively prudish, reviewed here)

• The Importance of Being Earnest (high comedy, G, just possible for very smart children, closes July 3, reviewed here)

• Lombardi (drama, G/PG-13, a modest amount of adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• Million Dollar Quartet (jukebox musical, G, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

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

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

• Play Dead (theatrical spook show, PG-13, utterly unsuitable for easily frightened children or adults, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON ON BROADWAY:

• La Cage aux Folles (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes May 1, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• Angels in America (drama, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, closes Apr. 24, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY ON BROADWAY:

• Driving Miss Daisy (drama, G, possible for smart children, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY OFF BROADWAY:

• Molly Sweeney (drama, G, too serious for children, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (drama, PG-13/R, Washington remounting of Chicago production, adult subject matter, Chicago run reviewed here)

“In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love.”
John Steinbeck, East of Eden

A friend of mine recently had to write a piece called “Twenty-five Interesting Things About You” for her workplace newsletter, and asked me to look it over prior to publication. As I did so, it occurred to me that such pieces are growing increasingly difficult for the blogger-tweeters among us to write. Living in public as we do, we have far fewer secrets, even the innocuous kind. All is grist for the latest posting, and we turn our own stones.

Are there twenty-five passably interesting things about me that aren’t generally known to those who know me at all well, either in person or via the social media? Let’s see. Here goes nothing, or at least not much:

• I was twenty-one when I learned how to swim.

• I hate three foods, liver, beets, and blue cheese. I’ll only eat liver in spreadable form (in which I like it very much) and I won’t eat the others under any circumstances.

• Leonard Bernstein’s “Some Other Time” is my favorite song.

• I’m painfully shy, and have spent my whole life overcompensating for it.

• One of my best friends is a sexblogger who used to be a professional stripper.

• I talk to myself when I’m alone, most often when I’m driving a car.

• When I get sleepy while driving, I make up filthy lyrics to well-known songs and sing them as loudly as possible.

• I used to have perfect pitch, but lost it many years ago.

• I’ve always wished that I had a deeper voice.

• Most of my major dreams have either come true or appear to be in the process of doing so, but here’s an unrealized fantasy: I want to be one of the speakers in a performance of William Walton’s Façade.

• I’ve never gotten falling-down drunk. Genteel tipsiness is my limit.

• Mrs. T says I’m “old-fashioned.” She doesn’t mean it as a compliment, either.

• I always choose the typefaces in which my books are set.

• I had a mild crush on Fran Drescher early in the run of The Nanny. It lasted for about three months.

• I can’t dance. Don’t ask me.

• The last time I read any novel by Charles Dickens from cover to cover was when I was in high school.

• I wrote and published a review of a biography of a well-known writer without having read any of her books. That was more than a quarter-century ago, and I still haven’t read any of them.

• I’ve been in love (romantically, that is) seven times.

• I stole an elaborately inscribed copy of a book by a legendary classical pianist from a college library (not my alma mater). Years later, I sent it back–anonymously.

• A dog attacked me when I was a little boy. This caused me to be afraid of dogs throughout the rest of my childhood. The phobia eventually subsided, but even now I only pretend to like them when in the company of passionate dog lovers.

• Conversely–sort of–I find women with cat-like faces to be irresistible.

• Not counting fine art, the only physical object owned by a friend that I have ever actively coveted was a flawlessly preserved set of the New York edition of the works of Henry James.

• I never wanted children of my own, though I (usually) enjoy their company and seem to be reasonably good with them.

• I know who Tina Fey is, but I’ve never seen her, either on TV or at the movies.

• I wore a bright pink caftan once and was photographed in it.

Kind of wussy, huh? At least I didn’t make any of it up.

Jimmy Rushing and the Count Basie All-Stars perform “I Left My Baby” on The Sound of Jazz, originally telecast in 1957:

(This is the latest in a weekly series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Wednesday.)

“Life is a game and true love is a trophy.”
Rufus Wainwright, “Poses”

Yesterday’s reminiscence of the first movie I ever saw in a theater has put me in a nostalgic mood, so with the help of Wikipedia, I’ve compiled a list of interesting things that happened in 1956, the year in which Mrs. T and I were born.

So far as I know, nothing of any particular interest took place on February 6, my birthday, but the rest of the year was reasonably eventful, especially as regards art and culture. Among other noteworthy occurrences:

• Elvis Presley made his network TV debut and released his first movie, Love Me Tender.

• My Fair Lady, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot opened on Broadway.

• John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger opened in London.

• The Huntley-Brinkley Report, the first big-name nightly TV newscast, was launched.

• The Price Is Right made its TV debut.

• The Milton Berle Show was canceled.

• Videotape was publicly demonstrated for the first time.

• William Shawn became the editor of The New Yorker.

• Marilyn Monroe married Arthur Miller.

• Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier.

• Marty won the Best Picture Oscar.

• Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis dissolved their partnership.

• The Wizard of Oz was shown on TV for the first time.

• Humphrey Bogart made his last movie, The Harder They Fall.

• Books published in 1956 included James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day, Albert Camus’ The Fall, Ian Fleming’s Diamonds Are Forever, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology, Billie Holiday’s Lady Sings the Blues, Robert Lowell’s Life Studies, Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place, Edwin O’Connor’s The Last Hurrah, William H. Whyte’s The Organization Man, and Angus Wilson’s Anglo-Saxon Attitudes.

• Films released in 1956 include Around the World in 80 Days, Bigger Than Life, Giant, Lust for Life, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Searchers, and The Ten Commandments.

• Records released in 1956 include Chet Baker Sings, Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven,” Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line,” Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah I Love Her So,” Miles Davis’ Round About Midnight, Ellington at Newport, Ella and Louis, Peggy Lee’s Black Coffee, the Louvin Brothers’ Tragic Songs of Life, Charles Mingus’ Pithecanthropus Erectus, Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” Sonny Rollins’ Saxophone Colossus, and Frank Sinatra’s Songs for Swingin’ Lovers.

• Among those who made the cover of Time: Jacques Barzun (who is 103 years old and still kicking!), Maria Callas, Duke Ellington, Sigmund Freud (painted by Ben Shahn), Rex Harrison, William Holden, Edward Hopper, Marilyn Monroe, and Eero Saarinen.

• Fred Allen, Max Beerbohm, Clifford Brown, Tommy Dorsey, Lyonel Feininger, Alfred Kinsey, H.L. Mencken, A.A. Milne, Jackson Pollock, and Art Tatum died.

• Geena Davis, Bo Derek, Kenny G, Carrie Fisher, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Tony Kushner, Nathan Lane, Bill Maher, Mark Morris, Johnny Rotten, David Sedaris, and Dwight Yoakam were born.

All these things happened in my lifetime, more or less, though I wasn’t paying attention yet. I didn’t become aware of the larger world around me until November 22, 1963. I vaguely recall the death of my maternal grandfather the year before, but the assassination of John Kennedy is the first public event that I can now remember with any distinctness. After that, the lights went up and the show began.

Diana Krall sings “Love Letters”: