2,374 stories by "TERRY TEACHOUT"
"As it is necessary not to invite robbery by supineness, so it is our duty not to suppress tenderness by suspicion; it is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes ch…
From 2006: I took a look yesterday at a list of the twelve top-grossing movies in North America. I’d heard of four of them: I read the novel on which Thank You for Smoking is based whe…
"'You don't like buttermilk, or nothing else. You're like a starving person whose stomach is shrunk up from not having any food. You're shrunk up from not wanting nothing.' "'I want to get t…
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column I review two Broadway openings, Waitress and Fully Committed. Here's an excerpt. * * * It's long past time that Jessie Mueller got to appear in a …
Jascha Heifetz and Brooks Smith perform Fritz Kreisler's arrangement of the G Major Rondo from Mozart's "Haffner" Serenade, K. 250. This performance was originally telecast on NBC's Bell Sys…
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring"
 When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush Through the echoing timber does so ri…
I'm en route from New York to West Palm Beach, Florida, where I'll start rehearsing Palm Beach Dramaworks' production of Satchmo at the Waldorf at noon today. Not only is Satchmo my first pl…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway transfer of American Psycho: The Musical. Here's an excerpt. * * * Twenty-five years ago, Bret Easton Ellis published a novel about a Wal…
Vladimir Nabokov talks about the covers of different editions of Lolita on USA: The Novel. This episode was originally telecast on WNET on February 3, 1965: (This is the latest in a series o…
"Taking the chance of making a complete fool of himself"and, sometimes, doing so"is the first demand that is made upon any real critic: he must stick his neck out just as the artist does, if…
In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column I discuss the growing progressive backlash against Hamilton. Here's an excerpt. * * * The New York Times recently published a piece by Jenni…
"Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism." Mary McCarthy, "The Vita Activa"
Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys perform "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," originally telecast on The Flatt & Scruggs Grand Ole Opry Show in December of 1962: (This …
"I do not mind if I lose my soul for all eternity. If the kind of God exists Who would damn me for not working out a deal with Him, then that is unfortunate. I should not care to spend etern…
Like everyone else who pays the slightest attention to theater in America, I was neither surprised nor displeased that this year's Pulitzer Prize for drama went to Hamilton, about whose over…
From 2006: "I didn't realize how long it has been since I set out to acquire a brand new skill"hell, in graduate school I think I unlearned a fair number of them"and at this point, anyway, t…
"When the major talents are directors, actors, and scene designers"that’s dead-end theater. Fine to see, but it ain’t going nowhere. You have to turn out good new writers." Lilli…
This morning I fly back to New York from Winter Park, Florida, where I attended the premiere of Music, Awake! on Saturday night. Mrs. T is under the weather"I inadvertently passed my nasty s…
A 1961 IBM sales film, directed by Saul Bass: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
"When I first went out to Hollywood one heard talk from writers about whoring. But you are not tempted to whore unless you want to be a whore." Lillian Hellman, "The Art of Theater No. 1" (P…
In today's Wall Street Journal I report from Chicago on the premiere of Tracy Letts' new play, Mary Page Marlowe. Here's an excerpt. * * * Tracy Letts is a poet of the ordinary, a playwright…
The Everly Brothers sing "Wake Up, Little Susie" and "Bye Bye Love" on The Perry Como Show, accompanied by Mitchell Ayers and His Orchestra. This episode was originally telecast on NBC on De…
"Profundity must smile." Thomas Mann, Lotte in Weimar: The Beloved Returns
Paul Moravec and I are headed down to Florida this weekend for our latest premiere: John Sinclair and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park are giving the first performance of our latest …
"I have always been an admirer. I regard the gift of admiration as indispensable if one is to amount to something; I don't know where I would be without it." Letter, 1950, quoted in Marcel R…
