Archives for 2011

I’m one of the panelists on the latest episode of Theater Talk, which will be telecast by CUNY-TV on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET (followed by several repeat airings). Joining me are fellow drama critics Adam Feldman, Jacques le Sourd, and Elisabeth Vincentelli. The hosts are Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins. We’ll be talking about the Broadway season just ended, and I can promise you that the discussion, which we taped a few weeks ago, will be frisky.
For more information, go here.
If you want to watch it now, here’s the complete episode:

“Always providing you have enough courage–or money–you can do without a reputation.”
Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind

…I offer this new lyric to an old song in the hope of making certain careless theatergoers think twice:

Turn off your cellphone,
Start powering it down.
Turn off your cellphone
Or your fellow men will frown.
If it rings at the end of The Crucible,
All the ushers will treat you as gooseable.
If you chat when you ought to be si-o-lent,
Then assume that your date will get violent.
We’re all sick of the buzzing and ringing
That detracts from the acting and singing.
Turn off your cellphone
Or get out of town.

* * *

Cole Porter’s “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” sung by Lee Wilkof and Michael Mulheren in the 1999 Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate:

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)

• 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 Motherf**ker with the Hat (serious comedy, R, adult subject matter, closes 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)

• 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, closes July 24, reviewed here)

IN CHICAGO:

• The Front Page (comedy, PG-13, extended through July 17, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• A Little Journey (drama, G, closes July 10, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK ON BROADWAY:

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

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN CHICAGO:

• Porgy and Bess (operatic musical, PG-13, closes July 3, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY ON BROADWAY:

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

CLOSING SUNDAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

• Old Times (drama, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN GLENCOE, ILL.:

• Heartbreak House (serious comedy, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

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

CLOSING SUNDAY ON BROADWAY:

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

“Q. Do you care about reviews?
“A. Of course you care. I don’t read them, but you don’t really have to–you know what they are with the way people respond. There’s nothing in the world more silent than the telephone the morning after everybody pans your play. It won’t ring from room service; your mother won’t be calling you. If the phone has not rung by 8 in the morning, you’re dead.”
David Mamet (interview, New York Times, May 27, 2011)

“The 100 Greatest Movie Threats of All Time,” compiled by Harry Hanrahan:

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

“The thing about men that don’t talk much is that they don’t usually learn much, either.”
Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

“Occasionally the very youngness of the young moved him to charity–they had no sense of the swiftness of life, nor of its limits. The years would pass like weeks, and loves would pass too, or else grow sour.”
Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove