“The thing about all early success is what a natural amphetamine it proves to be, how it feeds on itsef, how easily the dish runs away with the spoon. And the other universal truth is the utter lack of fear one has whenever staring at that metaphorical high dive for the very first time. ‘I loved your early stuff’ is a cliché funny as well as heartbreaking, because the early work is so often effortlessly spontaneous. One doesn’t perceive the abyss ahead, the incipient danger. We love discovering people and happily proclaiming their success; we just don’t like them to make a habit of it.”
Jack O’Brien, Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
An ArtsJournal Blog