The opening playlet of Terrence McNally’s two-part evening, The Stendhal Syndrome , has Isabella Rossellini as a tour guide to three Americans schlepping through the Accademia Gallery in Florence. The action takes place round Michelangelo’s statue of David as the Americans try to relate to it.
Now this should be fun, I thought. Only Read More
It was James Agate who reminded us that a dirty mind is a perpetual feast, and that’s certainly true of this confident, carefree stage version of the 1978 porn movie Debbie Does Dallas at the Jane Street Theatre. The fun adaptation is by Erica Schmidt, who also directs expertly. But the big surprise is that Read More
Isaiah Berlin, in his essay “The Naiveté of Verdi,” describes the Italian composer as “the last great complete, self-fulfilled creator, absorbed in his art … seeking to use it for no ulterior purpose.” He calls Verdi “the last naïve master of Western music, in an age given over to the Sentimentalisches “-the self-conscious, subversive “sentimentalists,” Read More
The Full Monty , the new musical about various wee-wees, is currently lighting up Broadway. I guess I’ve seen some things in my time, but a musical about whether amateur male strippers will drop their G-strings to show us “the full monty” after almost three hours-at last! This is the moment . Will they, won’t Read More
Nathan Lane walked into Bubby’s in Tribeca with a sweaty brow, wearing small tortoise-shell glasses, a blue button-down shirt and a closely groomed beard. He looked around royally, noticing that the entire waitstaff had recognized him and jumped into action. “They don’t have to get all up in a row,” said Mr. Lane. “I just Read More
Monday, June 15, an advertisement by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights appeared. It was prominently placed in The New York Times at the bottom of the Op-Ed page. It had an eye-catching headline: “‘Shylock and Sambo’ Hits Broadway.” The ad was an attack on Terrence McNally’s play, Corpus Christi , scheduled to Read More
Now that the Manhattan Theater Club has rediscovered its nerve and reinstated Corpus Christi on its fall schedule, let’s pause for a moment and clarify some arguments.
For readers who have been on Mars for the past month, here’s a recap. Terrence McNally’s new play is said (by people who haven’t seen it, though various Read More
