2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
"The clumsiest literal translation is a thousand times more useful than the prettiest paraphrase." Vladimir Nabokov, "Problems of Translation: 'Onegin' in English"
From 2009: I spend a lot of time living out of a suitcase in my capacity as drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, for which I review theatrical performances all over America. Cross-cou…
"Rowdies are never revolutionaries, they are always reactionary. It is among the young that the greatest conformists and Philistines are found, e.g., the hippies with their group beards and …
I met Evelyn Grace Dukes, my grand-niece, a week and a half after she was born in Houston in February of 2018, and reflected at the time about her likely place in that which remains of my li…
Helen Beardsley appears as a challenger on To Tell the Truth. The author of Who Gets the Drumstick?, she simultaneously raised twenty children and step-children and was portrayed by Lu…
"All children, except one, grow up." J.M. Barrie, Peter and Wendy
Stephen Hough plays Chopin's E Flat Nocturne, Op. 9/2, on Queen Victoria's golden Erard piano at the 2019 BBC Proms. This performance, which took place in London's Royal Albert Hall, was the…
"Once a year, at the dark end of November, Thanksgiving Day arrives in the United States. It's one of those marvellous reminders of the good sort of innocence and naivety you can find in tha…
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column I review an off-Broadway revival of Horton Foote's The Young Man From Atlanta. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *Â Â * Sometimes"fairly often, trut…
"For all that has been"Thanks. For all that shall be"Yes." Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings
The forty-second episode of Three on the Aisle, the twice-monthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for li…
Edward R. Murrow "interviews" Harpo Marx on Person to Person, originally telecast by CBS on January 3, 1958: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appea…
"Destiny is something not to be desired and not to be avoided." Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings
From 2006: Believe it or not, I don't live in the past. No working journalist does, especially one with so many young friends. Even so, I do enjoy rummaging around in my well-stocked memory,…
"Time goes by, reputation increases, ability declines." Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings
Orson Welles talks with Huw Wheldon about Citizen Kane on Monitor, originally telecast by the BBC on March 13, 1960: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos…
"Her finely touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Alexander broke the strength, spent itself in channels wh…
In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column, I write about a new book by Rob Kapilow whose subject is American popular song. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *Â Â * The "listicle," a na…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review the New York transfer of Bedlam's off-Broadway revival of The Crucible. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *Â Â * Bedlam's small-scale revival of Arthur …
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays Chopin's B Minor Mazurka, Op. 33/4, on Italian TV in 1965: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space e…
"He was no good in discussion, not because any amount of argument could shake his faith, but because the mere fact of hearing another voice disconcerted him painfully, confusing his thoughts…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway opening of The Inheritance. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *Â Â * When the AIDS epidemic laid waste to a generation of gay men, it simul…
"To be a writer is to be an autodidact, with all the limitations, gaps, and gaucheries typical of the autodidact, who belabors clichés as though they were sacral revelation." Cynthia Ozick,…
Allegra Kent, Conrad Ludlow, and the New York City Ballet dance the second movement of George Balanchine's Symphony in C. The score is Georges Bizet's Symphony in C, composed shortly a…
"In any modern city, a great deal of our energy has to be expended in not seeing, not hearing, not smelling. An inhabitant of New York who possessed the sensory acuteness of an African Bushm…
