2,374 stories by "TERRY TEACHOUT"
I recently read an article about the Washington production of Satchmo at the Waldorf that contained this observation: A soulful, nuanced snapshot of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong’s late li…
Fayard and Harold Nicholas sing and dance "That Old Black Magic," written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, on The Hollywood Palace. This episode was originally telecast by ABC on February …
"What a silly thing secrets are! They make us solve them somehow." Ivy Compton-Burnett, More Women than Men (courtesy of Levi Stahl)
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column, I review a regional revival of Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero. I also take note of the off-Broadway transfer of the Berkshire Theatre Group reviva…
"RCA Victor Announces Living Stereo," a 1958 promotional film that explains how stereophonic sound works: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space eac…
"I am bothered by the theater. The performance is not the same every night." François Truffaut (quoted in Charles Thomas Samuels, Encountering Directors)
"No filmmaker likes critics, no matter how nice they are to him. Always he feels that they didn’t say enough about him, or that they didn’t say nice things in an interesting way,…
"Isaac Stern Boosts Jack's Morale," an episode of The Jack Benny Program originally telecast by CBS on November 6, 1955. Mel Blanc plays Benny's violin teacher and Isaac Stern plays himself.…
"I never understood the meaning of a film. I am very concrete. I only understand what is on the screen. In my whole life, I have never understood a single symbol." François Truffaut (quot…
Five things I wish I had: ' A winter home on Florida's Sanibel Island, preferably cloned from one of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses or prefab designs"so long as it could be made hurrica…
From 2006: So which part of the G & S operettas is more important, the words or the music? My Solomonic answer is that the musical numbers–which are, of course, by Gilbert and Sul…
"Ah, it is easy to begin to work. It is when the novelty wears off that the crux comes." Ivy Compton-Burnett, More Women than Men
The Miles Davis Quintet plays Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" in Berlin in 1967. Wayne Shorter plays tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock piano, Ron Carter bass, and Tony Williams drums: (This…
"Taste is made of a thousand distastes." Paul Valéry, Tel quel
A few weeks after 9/11, I wrote an essay for Crisis about where I was and what I did that day. This is part of it. * * * “Get up, son,” my mother said, tapping softly on the door…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review a Boston revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company. Here's an excerpt. * * * The best thing that ever happened to Stephen Sondheim (other than being born …
Rod Serling is interviewed by Mike Wallace on The Mike Wallace Interview. This program was originally telecast on September 22, 1959, shortly before The Twilight Zone made its debut on CBS: …
"Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil." G.K. Chesterton, "The Flying Stars"
In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column I take note of the release on home video of the first season of Reginald Rose's The Defenders. Here's an excerpt. * * * Television was born …
"It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it." G.K. Chesterton, "Spiritualism"
Martha Argerich plays Ravel's Jeux d'eau in 1977: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
"The one stream of poetry which is continually flowing is slang." G.K. Chesterton, "A Defense of Slang"
From 2006: Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, says the psalmist. I wonder how many of us do, or even try. I nearly died nine months ago, and you'd think t…
"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable." G.K. Chesterton, column, Illustrated London News (October 2…
Mrs. T and I drove from Connecticut to Boston on Sunday to see a musical that I'll be reviewing in Friday's Wall Street Journal. Come Thursday I'll be taking the train down to Washington, D.…
