2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
"Sexton I still read, but Plath I gave up on. For some years I was very enthusiastic about her, but I don't feel the attraction any more. With poetry, I go where I'm pulled." Jon Hassler,Â�…
Various forms of the records-that-changed-my-life meme have been making the rounds lately, so I came up with my own version, which I call "The Twenty-Five Record Albums That Changed My Life.…
W.B. Yeats reads "The Lake Isle of Innisfree." This reading was originally recorded by the BBC on October 28, 1936: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that a…
There's not a woman turns her face Upon a broken tree, And yet the beauties that I loved Are in my memory; I spit into the face of Time That has transfigured me. William Butler Yeats, "The L…
Various forms of the records-that-changed-my-life meme have been making the rounds lately, so I came up with my own version, which I call "The Twenty-Five Record Albums That Changed My Life.…
From 2009: Much has been written in recent days, most of it silly and some of it ignorant, about the modern art that Barack and Michelle Obama have borrowed to display in the White House….…
"In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul." Mary Renault, The Mask of Apollo
Clive James recently filled out the Guardian's "Books That Made Me" questionnaire. I was so struck by his answers"as well as the questions themselves"that I decided to play along: 'Â The b…
The thirty-ninth 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…
Janet Baker sings Berlioz's "Le spectre de la rose" (from Nuits d'été) with Herbert Blomstedt and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1972: (This is the latest in a series of arts- a…
"It is better to believe in men too rashly, and regret, than believe too meanly." Mary Renault, The Persian Boy
In the online edition of today's Wall Street Journal, I review Second Stage's Broadway transfer of the original Chicago production of Tracy Letts' Linda Vista. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *�…
Stéphane Grappelli and George Shearing play "Sweet Georgia Brown" in Stéphane Grappelli and His Quartet. Dave Goldberg is the guitarist, Coleridge Goode the bassist, and Ray Ellington t…
"Power is so pleasant that men quickly learn to be greedy in the enjoyment of it, and to flatter themselves that patriotism requires them to be imperious." Anthony Trollope, The Prime Min…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review an important New York opening, the Irish Repertory Theatre's off-Broadway revival of Conor McPherson's Dublin Carol. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *Â …
In this week's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column, which appears in the online edition of today's paper, I discuss the case of Plácido Domingo. Here's an excerpt. *  * Â�…
"But who ever yet was offered a secret and declined it?" Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage
Frederick Ashton rehearses Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in his 1956 ballet Birthday Offering at London's Covent Garden in 1968. The score is by Glazunov: (This is the latest in a ser…
"Above all things, never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you very much at your own reckoning." Anthony T…
Due to an unusually large number of Broadway openings this fall, I'm filing two drama columns for The Wall Street Journal this week. In today's paper, I review the Broadway transfer of Slave…
A friend of mine sent me this color photograph the other day, remarking that he suspected it was the only time that Louis Armstrong and George Bernard Shaw appeared in the same painting. It …
From 2009: Much has been written in recent days, most of it silly and some of it ignorant, about the modern art that Barack and Michelle Obama have borrowed to display in the White House….…
"Since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself." John Calvin, Institutes of the Christi…
The thirty-eighth episode of Three on the Aisle, the (usually) twice-monthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on …
An excerpt from Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer, a 1987 documentary directed by Amram Nowak. In this scene, Singer is seen returning to Coney Island and Brighton Be…
