Archives for May 12, 2011

I’m one of the panelists on this week’s episode of Working in the Theatre, a discussion called “Theatre Journalism: Online and Off” that will be telecast by CUNY-TV on Sunday at five p.m. ET. Joining me are Scott Heller, the theater editor of the New York Times, and stagebloggers Chris Caggiano, David Loehr, and Jan Simpson. The host is Howard Sherman. I really enjoyed taping this program, and I hope the results are as much fun to watch as they were to make.
For more information, or to download a podcast of the show, go here.
Here’s a snippet in which I talk about artblogging and the old media:

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:

• Anything Goes (musical, G/PG-13, mildly adult subject matter that will be unintelligible to children, closes Jan. 8, reviewed here)

• Born Yesterday (comedy, G/PG-13, closes July 31, reviewed here)

• The House of Blue Leaves (serious comedy, PG-13, closes July 23, reviewed here)

• 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)

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

• The Motherf**ker with the Hat (serious comedy, R, adult subject matter, extended through July 17, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

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

• By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (comedy, PG-13, extended through June 12, 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 NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:

• The School for Lies (verse comedy, PG-13, impossible for children, closes May 22, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK ON BROADWAY:

• Lombardi (drama, G/PG-13, a modest amount of adult subject matter, closes May 22, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY IN LOS ANGELES:

• God of Carnage (serious comedy, PG-13, Los Angeles remounting of Broadway production with original cast, adult subject matter, Broadway run reviewed here)

A rare kinescope (in two parts) of Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten performing Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo on Japanese television in 1956:

“There is a natural connection between the teaching profession and a taste for totaliarian government; prolonged association with the immature–fanatical urchins competing for caps and blazers of distinguishing colours–the dangerous pleasure of over-simple exposition, the scars of the endless losing battle for order and uniformity which rages in every classroom, dispose even the most independent minds to shirt-dipping and saluting.”
Evelyn Waugh, “For Schoolboys Only”