Archives for September 25, 2014

Jerry Jazz Musician, a web-based magazine out of Portland, Oregon, that describes itself as being “devoted to jazz and 20th-century America,” has just published a symposium that asks the following question: “What are 3 or 4 of your favorite jazz record albums of the 1970′s?” The participants include (among others) Michael Cuscuna, Eliane Elias, Gary Giddins, Bennie Maupin, Marc Myers, Tierney Sutton, and me. Not surprisingly, our choices ranged very widely.

To see what albums we picked, go here.

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:
• Cabaret (musical, PG-13/R, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)
• A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (musical, PG-13, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Love Letters (drama, PG-13, closes Feb. 1, reviewed here)
• Matilda (musical, G, reviewed here)
• Les Misérables (musical, G, too long and complicated for young children, reviewed here)
• Once (musical, G/PG-13, reviewed here)
• This Is Our Youth (drama, PG-13, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• The Fatal Weakness (drama, PG-13, closes Oct. 26, reviewed here)
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

IN NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONTARIO:
• Arms and the Man (comedy, G/PG-13, closes Oct. 18, reviewed here)
• When We Are Married (comedy, PG-13, closes Oct. 26, reviewed here)

IN SPRING GREEN, WIS.:
• American Buffalo (drama, PG-13, closes Nov. 8, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONTARIO:
• The Sea (black comedy, PG-13, closes Oct. 26, closes Oct. 12, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN SPRING GREEN, WIS.:
• The Doctor’s Dilemma (serious comedy, G/PG-13, closes Oct. 3, reviewed here)
• Travesties (serious comedy, PG-13, closes Oct. 3, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:
• The Wayside Motor Inn (drama, PG-13, closes Oct. 5, reviewed here)

“You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.”

Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind and Other Aphorisms