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Author Archives: dgsweet
Returning to the Scene
To be simultaneously separated by masks (I wear two) and joined in responding with laughter with hundreds of others is to experience the contradictions of going to the theater these days. Of course, you can’t see the mouths, but maybe … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, theater
Tagged A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, Alex Wyse, Ben Fankhauser, Bridge Theatre, Bryonha Marie Parham, Charlotte Bydwell, covid, Dan Wagoner, Hal Prince, Jay O. Sanders, Lakawanna Blues, Martyna Majok, Maryann Plunkett, National Theatre, Porch, Prince of Broadway, Rhinebeck, Richard Nelson, Robert LePage, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Stratford Festival, What Happened?
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Review: “Sanctuary City”
Movie trailers today mostly are constructed the same way – a line or two of characters yelling or a violent incident quick cuts to another violent incident or line or two of characters yelling. And accompanying each cut is a … Continue reading
“People on Sunday”–a film of pre-Nazi Berlin
Have started reading Joseph McBride’s new book, Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge, which naturally led to my watching People on Sunday, a silent film co-directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar Ulmer (with assists from Curt Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann and … Continue reading
Posted in Berlin, movies
Tagged Babylon Berlin, Curt Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer, Fred Winnemann, Joseph McBride, Nazis, People on Sunday, pre-WWII, Robert Siodmak
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Men in White, Sidney Kingsley, and Ancillary Thoughts
I recently read Sidney Kingsley’s play, Men in White (1933), and last night I watched the 1934 film adaptation directed by Richard Boleslawski. (Interesting that Boleslawski directed the film version of a work that had been directed on Broadway by … Continue reading
A Forgotten Play Yields Treasure
One of the pleasures of trawling the depths of the Broadway HD streaming channel is digging up obscurities. Often, they are obscure for good reason. I can’t say that Don Appell’s Lullaby is any great shakes as a piece of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 1950s, Anne Jackson, Broadway, Broadway HD, Bye Bye Birdie, Don Appell, Eli Wallach, Lullaby, Manchurisan Candidate, Marty, Nichols and May, Paddy Chayefsky, Ruth White
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New York Through Kids’ Eyes
One of the benefits of marrying Kristine twelve years ago (July 15 was our anniversary) is that I acquired, with no effort, six grandchildren. Four of them visited us this past week. Whenever you host visitors, you can’t help but … Continue reading
From “Crime in the Streets” to “West Side Story”
Watched a clumsy but fascinating film called Crime in the Streets. It started as a 1955 live TV play by Reginald Rose presented by the Elgin Hour, directed by Sidney Lumet. A young John Cassavetes starred as Frankie, a member … Continue reading
Posted in 1950s TV Drama, Broadway, film adaptation, Golden Age of Television, movies, New York
Tagged 12 Angry Men, Crime in the Streets, David Winters, Dead End, Don Siegel, James Whimore, Jon Cassavetes, Mark Rydell, Reginald Rose, Robert Preston, Sidney Lumet, Street Scene, The Defenders, West Side Story
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Ride Share
In 1992, a former cab driver named Will Kern drew on his experience to whip up a bracing entertainment called Hellcab. An actor played the driver and an ensemble of six played something in the neighborhood of 30 passengers who … Continue reading
Posted in Chicago theater, drama, film adaptation, playwriting, television
Tagged Alan Bennett, Hellcab, Judgment at Nuremberg, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Marty, Philco Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Reginald Edmund, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Ride Share, Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, Talking Heads, The Days of Wine and Roses, The Miracle Worker, The Trip to Bountiful, Twelve Angry Men, Will Kern
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Living Up to the Dream
I’m close to the end of Bauhaus – A New Era, a German TV miniseries that tells a story of Walter Gropius and his relationship with a student, Dörte Helm, against the background of the arts school Gropius founded in … Continue reading
Posted in television
Tagged Alan Ehrenhalt, architecture, Bauhaus, Dörte Helm, German art, J.K. Rowling, Lars Kraume, Lin-Manuel Miranda, MHZ Choice, Tom Wolfe, Walter Gropius
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