Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
Graham Greene is interviewed by Jack Mangan in an outtake from a 1950 episode of Ship’s Reporter in which he talks about The Third Man:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
“People don’t like reality. They don’t like common sense. Until age forces it on them.”
Graham Greene, Loser Takes All
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One of the few happy surprises of 2020 was the Mint Theater Company’s announcement that it had built up a private stockpile of broadcast-quality archival videos of its past productions and that it would make them available for streaming—for free. If you’ve never seen or heard of the Mint, Teresa Deevy’s “Katie Roche” offers a perfect opportunity to play catch-up with one of America’s most distinguished small theater companies….
“Katie Roche” is the story of the title character (played with marvelous lightness of touch by Wrenn Schmidt), an illegitimate servant girl who “long ago made up my mind I’d be a saint” but is headed off en route to the convent…
Caridad Svich, whose work is regularly performed by regional theaters all over America, currently has three plays streaming, or about to open, at the same time: “The Book of Magdalene” at Houston’s Main Street Theater, “Theatre: A Love Story” at Cincinnati’s Know Theatre, and “Red Bike” at the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. “The Book of Magdalene,” the most ambitious of the trio, is a nocturnal exercise in magical realism, a pandemic-themed updating of the biblical story….
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Read the whole thing here.A clip from the dress rehearsal of Katie Roche:
Fats Waller sings and plays “Ain’t Misbehavin’” in Stormy Weather, directed by Andrew L. Stone in 1943. The members of the band include Benny Carter on trumpet, Zutty Singleton on drums, and Slam Stewart on bass. Also seen in the clip are Lena Horne and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
“I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man.”
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 85
“When I was writing three-act plays, a producer told me the curtain should always come down on the beginning of the fourth act. A play should never really come to an end.”
Neil Simon, interview with James Lipton (Paris Review, Winter 1992)
Bill Evans plays “My Foolish Heart” on British TV in 1965, with Chuck Israels on bass and Larry Bunker on drums:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
“It is impossible to go through life without trust: that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.”
Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear