It’s no pleasure to report that the new production of The Frogs , starring Nathan Lane, illustrates why vaudeville died. I’d much rather be telling you about a great night out-a wonderfully silly night out-at the theater on a glorious summer’s night. But as Mr. Lane’s Dionysos puts it despairingly during the show: “Have you Read More
I celebrated the centenary of George Balanchine’s birth on January 22 by staying at home and reading and thinking about him. The disparity between all the hoopla and the disastrous casting of Balanchine’s own muse-Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance-in the key ballet of his career, Apollo , was too much for my gorge. Even at Read More
Concerning the fuss about Trevor Nunn’s dark psychological version of Oklahoma! may we, firstly, all keep calm and remind ourselves that Rodgers and Hammerstein’s lovely, eternally bright golden haze of a musical ain’t Oedipus ?
If it were, it would have an exclamation point. ( Oedipus! ) To be sure, the fabled Oklahoma! has a Read More
Enough already of The Girl in the Yellow Dress! I feel as if I’m living with her! No disrespect, of course, to the lovely Deborah Yates of Contact , who is The Girl in the Yellow Dress. Why, anyone would love to live with her, particularly if she knows how to make veal piccata. It’s Read More
The sound we hear over breakfast is Ben Brantley barking up the wrong tree. Now, it’s true that no two critics will agree on anything much, including the time of day. Mr. Brantley believes, for example, that the earth is flat, whereas everyone knows it’s square. But I must say that his breathlessly ecstatic acclaim Read More
