Archives for August 23, 2012

The first preview of Satchmo at the Waldorf was extremely successful. We’ll soon see whether subsequent audiences are as enthusiastic. That said, the first-nighters showed every sign of loving it, and then some.
Standing ovations are nice–and yes, we got one–but Satchmo at the Waldorf still has a long way to go before crossing the finish line, and all of us know it. While John Douglas Thompson, Gordon Edelstein, and I permitted ourselves to revel briefly in the applause, we were already discussing possible nips and tucks in the script ten minutes after the auditorium had emptied out. (What a pleasure it is to work with people who don’t know the meaning of the words “good enough”!) I even wrote a couple of new lines for tonight’s performance before hitting the hay. By the time most of you read these words, we’ll be back in rehearsal. We’re determined to make this show as good as it can possibly be.
To all of you who sent good wishes yesterday, my heartfelt thanks. You buoyed me up.
Now, back to work!

Louis Armstrong and the All Stars perform “The Bare Necessities” on the BBC in 1968:

“When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, ‘We’re all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.’ If you’re not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that.”
David Mamet, Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama