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“The Far Country,” “Merrily We Roll Along” and Revues
I should declare a conflict of interest. Lloyd Suh is a former student of mine. I have no idea what, if anything, he got from our classes a couple of decades ago at the New School, but he made a vivid impression on me at the time and I have followed his work with particular… Continue reading
Adolph Green, Atlantic Theater, Betty Comden, Daniel Radcliffe, Dramatists Guild, Eric Ting, George Furth, George S. Kaufman, Hal Prince, Hello Dolly!, Jerry Herman, John F. Kennedy, Jonathan Groff, Lee S.Wilkof, Lindsay Mendez, Lloyd Suh, Milk and Honey, Moss Hart, New York Theater Workshop, Roger Ailses, Stephen Rosenfeld, Stephen Sondheim, The Far Country -
A New “1776”
I’m going to guess I’m not the only person who learned about the triangle trade from a musical. Late in the action of the show of 1776, a delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina named Edward Rutledge reacts to his northern colleagues’ concern for black people held in bondage in the south by… Continue reading
"Molasses to Rum", 1776, AnnMarie Milazzo, Benjamin Franklein, Carolee Carmello, Clifford David, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Declaration of Independence, Diane Paulus, Eddie Sauter, Edward Rutledge, Jeffrey L. Page, John Adams, John Cullum, Patrena Murray, Peter Hunt, Peter Stone, Roundabout Theater, Sara Prokalob, Sherman Edwards -
As You Kink It
Because of serendipitous scheduling, I saw Kinky Boots on a matinee and the New York Shakespeare production of As You Like It that night. Kinky Boots is about a guy who gets to say and do some things because he dresses up as a woman. As You Like It is about a woman who gets… Continue reading
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“Winter Adé”
On an impulse, I watched Helke Misselwitz’ documentary, Winter Adé on Mubi streaming. The film is mostly a collection of interviews by the director of women in East Germany. The interviewees are of various ages. Two teenagers who don’t want to live the life the country has mapped out for them and so choose to… Continue reading
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“American Buffalo” on Broadway
In 2001, I served on a grand jury. At one point, an ADA played for us a recording from a wiretap. It was a conversation between two members of a violent drug gang. One was assigning the other to kill the girlfriend of someone who had displeased him somehow. (The ADA assured us that the… Continue reading
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Reviewing or Criticism?
I’m going to make a purely personal discrimination. It seems to me that reviews and pieces of criticism are different things. A review exists to give the reader advice on whether or not the work being covered is worth attending. It is a consumer’s guide. If your taste matches a given reviewer’s, then you may… Continue reading
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“Plaza Suite”
Neil Simon wrote a lot of plays I admire and have watched with pleasure multiple times. But inevitably there are some that appeal to me more than others. I saw the original production of Plaza Suite. It was directed by Mike Nichols and starred George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton. I saw it from standing… Continue reading
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“The Weissensee Saga”
It’s common for the author of historical fiction to want to cram in as many aspects of the period being covered as can be managed. Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War and War and Remembrance moves various branches of “Pug” Henry’s around the globe so as to be witness to as many aspects of WWII… Continue reading
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ALICE ADAMS — book and film
Finished reading Booth Tarkington’s Alice Adams recently and watched George Stevens’s film adaptation. The racism in the book is dismaying but not entirely surprising for a book that was published in 1921. The good stuff in it is very good indeed. It’s about how class distinctions play out in a small industrial town in the… Continue reading
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Thoughts on “Prayer For the French Republic”
At a time when we’ve gotten used to tasty 90-minute hors d’oeuvres, it’s exhilarating to encounter a play with enough on its mind to hold the attention for three hours (including two 10-minute intermissions). Joshua Harmon’s Prayer For the French Republic (immaculately directed by David Cromer at Manhattan Theater Club’s off-Broadway house) is a full… Continue reading
Jeffrey Sweet--Making the Scene 