All stories by Terry Teachout on BroadwayStars

Friday, March 11, 2016

Their big fat Zimbabwean wedding by Terry Teachout

In today's Wall Street Journal I review four New York shows, Familiar, Eclipsed, Blackbird, and Disaster! Here's an excerpt. * * * Danai Gurira is the zombie-whacking star of "The Walking De…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:30AM[SHARE]

Replay: James Brown performs on The Hollywood Palace by Terry Teachout

The James Brown Revue performs a medley of "I Can't Stand It," "If I Ruled the World," "Cold Sweat," "Try Me," "I Feel Good," and "There Was a Time" on The Hollywood Palace. They are introdu…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Fred Chappell on humanity and the artist by Terry Teachout

"I have got to where I should like for my work to be humane, and I do not much care if it even becomes sentimental." Fred Chappell, afterword to The Fred Chappell Reader

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 10, 2016

So you think you can act on Broadway? by Terry Teachout

My "Sightings" column for today's Wall Street Journal is occasioned by Forest Whitaker's unsuccessful Broadway debut. Here's an excerpt. * * * Forest Whitaker's much-ballyhooed Broadway debu…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:30AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Fred Chappell on accessibility and the artist by Terry Teachout

"There are already so many artists whom one admires more than he likes. Am I the only reader who finds in the achievement of James Joyce something that is"well, a little obtuse? Who sees Che…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Snapshot: Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Vertigo by Terry Teachout

Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform the "Scene d'amour" cue from Bernard Herrmann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo: (This is the latest in a series of arts-relat…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Richard Sennett on craftsmanship vs. creativity by Terry Teachout

"Good craftsmen are not expressing themselves. They're expressing something outside themselves. In that sense, craft is not about selfhood. When somebody declares to you, 'I feel I have a no…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The comforts of home by Terry Teachout

I'm a middle-aged semi-homebody whose chosen line of work requires me to spend a fair amount of time traveling. I don't do it resentfully (except for the time I spend sitting on airplanes an…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:10AM[SHARE]

Lookback: on not going to classical concerts by Terry Teachout

From 2006: I rarely go to classical concerts. It's not that I love the music any less, but over time I've become increasingly alienated from the experience of concertgoing: the noisy audienc…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:05AM[SHARE]

Almanac: John Lukacs on the power of love by Terry Teachout

"It is hate that unites people, whereas love is always individual, rather than collective. To this we may add what immediately negates whatever moral essence the purposes of class struggles …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, March 7, 2016

Just because: Vivian Blaine sings "Adelaide's Lament" by Terry Teachout

Vivian Blaine sings "Adelaide's Lament," from Guys and Dolls, at the 1971 Tony Awards. The song is by Frank Loesser. Blaine created the role of Adelaide in the original 1950 Broadway product…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: John Lukacs on hatred, fear, and ideology by Terry Teachout

"One of the fundamental differences between extremes of Right and Left is this: in most instances hatred moves the former; fear the latter." John Lukacs, Democracy and Populism: Fear and Hat…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, March 4, 2016

Additional dialogue by… by Terry Teachout

In today's Wall Street Journal drama column I review a Florida show, Orlando Shakespeare Theater's production of a new, modernized "translation" of Pericles. Here's an excerpt. * * * It's th…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:30AM[SHARE]

Replay: Alfred Drake sings "Where Is the Life That Late I Led?" by Terry Teachout

Alfred Drake sings "Where Is the Life That Late I Led?" in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV version of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, directed by George Schaefer. The musical numbers were staged b…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: T.S. Eliot on confusion by Terry Teachout

Men tighten the knot of confusion Into perfect misunderstanding. T.S. Eliot, The Family Reunion

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 3, 2016

Almanac: Eric Hoffer on compassion by Terry Teachout

"Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us." Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Snapshot: Peggy Lee sings "Fly Me to the Moon" by Terry Teachout

Peggy Lee sings Bart Howard's "Fly Me to the Moon" (originally titled "In Other Words") on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1960: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Henry James on the limits of criticism by Terry Teachout

"We must grant the artist his subject, his idea, what the French call his donnée; our criticism is applied only to what he makes of it. Naturally I do not mean that we are bound to like it …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Lookback: on the power of criticism to make some readers uncomfortable by Terry Teachout

From 2006: Alas, I've found over the years that many people (especially midwesterners, who are trained to say "sir" and "ma'am" and be polite to strangers) become uncomfortable whenever they…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Ortega y Gasset on intelligence by Terry Teachout

"Nothing has instilled more melancholy in me than the discovery that the number of intelligent men is extremely small." José Ortega y Gasset, On Love: Aspects of a Single Theme (translated …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 29, 2016

Where we longed to be by Terry Teachout

After living out of suitcases for the past two months, Mrs. T and I said farewell to Florida, returned at long last to our Manhattan apartment on Saturday night, and fell into bed with abjec…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:30AM[SHARE]

Just because: Pat Metheny plays Lennon and McCartney by Terry Teachout

Pat Metheny plays "And I Love Her," by John Lennon and Paul McCartney: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Pat Metheny on the purpose of jazz by Terry Teachout

"The guitar for me is a translation device. It's not a goal. And in some ways jazz isn't a destination for me. For me, jazz is a vehicle that takes you to the true destination"a musical one …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, February 26, 2016

Bonus almanac: Robert Penn Warren on the secret of successful demagogy by Terry Teachout

"'Yeah,' I said, 'I heard the speech. But they don't give a damn about that. Hell, make 'em cry, make 'em laugh, make 'em think you're their weak erring pal, or make 'em think you’re G…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 02:09PM[SHARE]

The old college try by Terry Teachout

In today's Wall Street Journal drama column, I report on Forest Whitaker's Broadway debut, in Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, which also stars Frank Wood. Here's an excerpt. * * * What happens when…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:45AM[SHARE]

Replay: Joan Baez sings "It Ain't Me Babe" by Terry Teachout

Joan Baez sings Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" on the BBC's In Concert in 1965: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and F…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Henri Poincaré on belief and doubt by Terry Teachout

"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection." Henri Poincaré, Science and Hypothesis

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 25, 2016

The cellphone scourge by Terry Teachout

In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column I discuss a problem that has become an epidemic in the world of American theater"cellphone abuse"and offer a solution. Here's an excerpt. * …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:30AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Francis Poulenc on contemplation and the artist by Terry Teachout

"I am writing little for the moment and I prefer to think rather than to realize." Francis Poulenc, letter to Georges Jean-Aubry, June 10, 1919

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Snapshot: Jean-Pierre Rampal plays Poulenc's Flute Sonata by Terry Teachout

Jean-Pierre Rampal and Robert Veyron-Lacroix perform Francis Poulenc's Flute Sonata: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:15AM[SHARE]

Almanac: Francis Poulenc on Emmanuel Chabrier by Terry Teachout

"Ah! Chabrier, I love him as one loves his father! An indulgent father, always happy, pockets full of tasty morsels." Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:00AM[SHARE]

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