tenwordsreview.blogspot.com
Ten Words: July 2006
http://tenwordsreview.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html
Monday, July 31, 2006. First there was Amelia her powder room, her lovely home. Filet of the neighborhood. We thought we could rent it. Amelia was lying. She had already rented to someone else. After Amelia, bedrooms looked like closets. Kitchens looked like bathrooms. We kept going to these places at dawn, sort of. We didn't want "another Amelia." This was my big initiative. I was reading this book where someone dies of insomnia. That's just what happens, when you're addicted to Craigslist.
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Restricted View: Safe at home with our beautiful prize
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2011/08/safe-at-home-with-our-beautiful-prize.html
Monday, August 1, 2011. Safe at home with our beautiful prize. Since Celia's baby was born, she had a new sense of her mental solidity and wisdom. It seemed clear that where there was a baby, things were right enough, and that error, in general, was a mere lack of that central poising force.". George Eliot, Middlemarch. So, the happy ending: We have a son! His name is Martin George. He was not quite as enormous as predicted. August 2, 2011 at 7:19 PM. August 3, 2011 at 2:26 PM. August 4, 2011 at 12:34 PM.
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Restricted View: The king's good servant
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2008/10/kings-good-servant.html
Saturday, October 25, 2008. The king's good servant. My review of the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival. Of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons. Is in this week's Commonweal. Once again, you've got to subscribe to read it online. I love this play, so I was disappointed to see it so poorly treated. I have also been disappointed by the lazy criticism I've read since I turned in my review. Brantley's review in the NYT. Thank God, as I often do, for Michael Feingold. I've also been surprised by a...
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Restricted View: Tony memories
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2011/06/tony-memories.html
Monday, June 13, 2011. So little attention was I paying in the run-up to the Tonys last night that I didn't even know the show had moved from Radio City to the Beacon until it began. From where I sit, the move was an upgrade - the broadcast actually seemed professionally produced (as befits a show that pays tribute to live theatre). The performers seemed able to hear the orchestra! What a difference that makes. In terms of professionalism and general skill, the opening "It's not just for gays anymore!
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Restricted View: Time to start getting the nets out
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2010/04/time-to-start-getting-nets-out.html
Friday, April 23, 2010. Time to start getting the nets out. I always assumed that Anyone Can Whistle. Made some kind of sense. I knew it was whimsical and wacky and all that, but I figured, if I saw the whole thing intact, it would have some. Discernible throughline. Not so much, as it turns out! This is too bad for me, because I've been staging imaginary productions of Anyone Can Whistle. In my head for years, based on the 1994 Carnegie Hall concert version. Of Arthur Laurents getting off the hook?
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Restricted View: Brighton Gone Dark
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2009/11/brighton-gone-dark.html
Friday, November 6, 2009. I have mixed feelings about the suprise commercial flop. Of "The Neil Simon Plays" - despite the critical success of Brighton Beach Memoirs. On the one hand, it means the words "Neil Simon" - even coupled with the word "revival" - are not enough to sell tickets these days. I think that's a good thing, generally, for Broadway. On the other hand: this was an exceptionally good revival, and it's not so great for Broadway when excellent work goes unrewarded. Really felt like a play.
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Restricted View: Oh, is that on tonight?
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2011/06/oh-is-that-on-tonight.html
Sunday, June 12, 2011. Oh, is that on tonight? For example, I saw Arcadia. Which I thought was quite good. It has a big cast with several very strong performances - in general I thought the British cast members were stronger than the Americans, and if I were to recommend individual actors for Tony nominations, Billy Crudup would probably be the last name on my list. And Billy Crudup was the only member of that cast to be nominated. Hooray? I also saw That Championship Season. Last year I complained.
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Restricted View: Goodbye for now
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2012/08/goodbye-for-now.html
Friday, August 10, 2012. Not that you couldn't figure it out, but just to make it official: I'm not updating this blog much anymore. But you can find me at the Commonweal. And if you don't want to miss an update, you can follow me on Twitter. To get you started, here are some recent posts of mine for Verdicts, Commonweal's arts-and-culture blog: a farewell to Mark O'Donnell. My friend and mentor, who died this week. Some thoughts. On the New Yorker. Here's last week's episode. August 27, 2012 at 8:29 AM.
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Restricted View: Do what I'm tellin' ya!
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2007/02/do-what-im-tellin-ya.html
Wednesday, February 28, 2007. Do what I'm tellin' ya! I know you know Judy Garland. And you probably know Jennifer. Holliday, but if you are under the age of 40,there's a good chance you're having trouble conjuring up a mental image of Judy Holliday. If that's the case, you need to stop everything and go add Born Yesterday. To your Netflix queue. And bump it to the top. Go ahead, I'll wait. I don't think Born Yesterday. It seems appropriate that Joe Gillis should be a nonentity, at least in his relations...
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Restricted View: So clever, but ever so sad
http://restrictedview.blogspot.com/2007/02/so-clever-but-ever-so-sad.html
Tuesday, February 13, 2007. So clever, but ever so sad. May I offer my sincere condolences if you missed your chance to see the splendid Encores! I wasn't sure whether Follies. Would work in a semi-staged concert context, or, for that matter, whether it works at all, having never seen it onstage in any form (if you don't count the YouTube clips of that high school production, and you shouldn't), and having read many conflicting opinions about why it is or is not unproduceable. But the Encores! When "Beau...
