Terry Teachout's Blog, page 17

PLAY

London Wall (Mint Theater, 311 W. 43, closes Apr. 13). The U.S. premiere of John Van Druten's 1931 comedy about a quartet of working women and the benighted men for whom they work. It has a distinctly contemporary flavor--enough so that you'll come away wondering whether Van Druten might deserve credit for inventing the workplace comedy long before it found favor on TV--and this immaculate revival is involvingly performed by one of New York's top off-Broadway troupes (TT).

GALLERY

William Bailey (Betty Cuningham Gallery, 541 West 25, up through Mar. 29). New canvases, plus a selection of earlier work, by the immensely subtle American still-life painter
whom I described as follows in 2007: "Today Bonnard is widely acknowledged as the major master he always was, and Morandi and Diebenkorn seem well on the way to achieving similar recognition. William Bailey will likely prove a harder sell, not just because of the American obsession with 'cutting-edge' art but also because his paintings never raise their voice....They give nothing away: you must come to them." Do so (TT).

So you want to see a show?

Here's my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:

• A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder (musical, PG-13, reviewed here)

• Matilda (musical, G, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• No Man's Land/Waiting for Godot (drama, PG-13, playing in rotating repertory, closes Mar. 30, reviewed here)

• Once (musical, G/PG-13, some performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• London Wall (serious comedy, PG-13, closes Apr. 13, reviewed here)

• Middle of the Night (drama, PG-13, closes Mar. 29, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:

• Outside Mullingar (comedy, PG-13, closes Mar. 16, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY OFF BROADWAY:

• Hamlet/Saint Joan (drama, G/PG-13, remounting of off-Broadway productions, playing in rotating repertory, original productions reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN ORLANDO, FLA.:

• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I and II (drama, G/PG-13, playing in rotating repertory, reviewed here)

Almanac: Thomas Carlyle on work

"Work is the grand cure for all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind,--honest work, which you intend getting done."

Thomas Carlyle, speech, Apr. 2, 1866

The morning after

The opening-night performance of the off-Broadway transfer of Satchmo at the Waldorf went sensationally well. John Douglas Thompson gave a letter-perfect performance, and the sold-out crowd at the Westside Theatre yelled its approval at show's end. The producers then threw a fabulous party from which Mrs. T and I returned home in a daze of joy much like the one that overwhelmed me after The Letter opened in Santa Fe five years ago. One thing was different: I now know what it feels like to be blinded by flashbulbs!

Most of the early reviews were very positive. Even those critics who had doubts about the play were hugely enthusiastic about John's acting , as well they should have been. (Here's my favorite line: "To say that Thompson's performance is a tour de force would be an understatement. This is a tour de megaforce.") To be sure, several of my colleagues have yet to go on record, but so far it looks as though we've got a shot at a solid run.

While I'm still a bit dizzy--to put it mildly--life goes on, and so does my day job. I'll be seeing a Broadway preview this afternoon and filing a review for The Wall Street Journal first thing tomorrow morning. Nevertheless, I'm about as happy as it's possible to be.

* * *

Our Girl in Chicago, my co-blogger and best friend, took this snapshot as she, Mrs. T, and I prepared to head down to the theater yesterday afternoon:

Snapshot: Louis Armstrong in 1970

"Anatomy of a Performance," a documentary about Louis Armstrong filmed at the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival:



(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday and Wednesday.)

Almanac: Dr. Johnson on hope

"The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope."

Samuel Johnson, The Rambler (Mar. 24, 1749)

The night of nights

Satchmo at the Waldorf opens tonight at New York's Westside Theatre. Nothing remains for me to do but sit back, watch, and hope.

This one's for my mother and father and my beloved Nancy LaMott, whom I wish had lived to see it--and for Mrs. T, who makes all things possible.

In honor of the occasion, I'm posting, as I always do on my opening nights--of which this is, incredibly, the eighth--a well-remembered and much-loved TV theme song from my childhood. May it bring us all broken legs:

Lookback: on being remaindered

From 2004:

The UPS man brought me a couple of boxes' worth of hardcover copies of The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken, and I knew that the inevitable moment had come at last: my book has been remaindered. I can't complain, really, since The Skeptic stayed in print for a year and a half, got terrific reviews, and is now available in a handsome-looking trade paperback. Still, you can't help but feel a twinge of dismay when you open the form letter from your publisher advising you that your beloved baby will soon be piled high on the discount tables, there to be sold for humiliatingly low prices. No matter how good a run you had--and I had a better one than I ever dared to hope--the party always ends....

Read the whole thing here .

Almanac: Elbert Hubbard on the optimist

"A neurotic person with gooseflesh and teeth a-chatter, trying hard to be brave."

Elbert Hubbard, Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams