2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
"Actors shouldn't campaign because they live in another world from ordinary people. If actors got an ounce of sense with every dollar they made, it would be all right." Walter Brennan (quote…
Satchmo at the Waldorf opened to a sold-out house on Saturday at Chicago's Court Theatre. The first-nighters were booming and zooming, and Barry Shabaka Henley fed off their energy all eveni…
Luiz Bonfá performs on The Perry Como Show. This episode was originally telecast on NBC on January 2, 1963: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this spac…
"Never send off any piece of writing the moment it is finished. Put it aside. Take on something else. Go back to it a month later and re-read it. Examine each sentence and ask 'Does this say…
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column I review the Broadway revival of Noises Off. Here's an excerpt. * * * Classic farce"the kind in which doors get slammed at metronomically regular …
Leonard Bernstein talks about and leads the London Symphony in a performance of his Second Symphony, "The Age of Anxiety," inspired by W.H. Auden's book-length poem of the same name. The pia…
The Court Theatre's production of Satchmo at the Waldorf, starring Barry Shabaka Henley and directed by Charles Newell, opens tomorrow night in Chicago. After eight public previews, we'll be…
"Never believe that afflictions improve character, enlarge the understanding, or teach you charitable thoughts! The man not afflicted, the easy, open fortunate man is the likable man, the ki…
If you live in Chicagoland, you can hear me on the radio Friday morning. I'll be talking about the Court Theatre's Chicago premiere of Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, on WBEZ's The Mo…
Starting today, my Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column will appear in the paper every other Thursday. This week I pay tribute to Cy Walter, the greatest cocktail pianist who ever lived. H…
"My final reflection, I'm afraid, was that if hypocrisy can be said to be the homage vice pays to virtue, theology could be said to be a homage nonsense tries to pay to sense." James Gould C…
On Tuesday afternoon I was sitting in the auditorium of Chicago's Court Theatre, watching Charlie Newell reblock the final scene of his production of Satchmo at the Waldorf, which opens ther…
Edward R. Murrow interviews Ethel Waters in her Queens apartment on Person to Person. This program was originally telecast on CBS on January 8, 1954: (This is the latest in a series of arts-…
"'I think he's had a bad scare; and I've heard that's the beginning of wisdom.'" "'No,' Noah Tuttle said. 'When someone's scared's when you really can't trust him." James Gould Cozzens, By L…
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 m…
"We feel first; and then with the advice and consent of whatever the feeling is, we think or think we think. I say think we think because I can't but observe the thinking's seldom more than …
On Sunday I flew up to Chicago to see back-to-back preview performances of the Court Theatre's all-new production of Satchmo at the Waldorf, directed by Charles Newell, which opens on Saturd…
The final dress rehearsal for the first preview of the Court Theatre's production of Satchmo at the Waldorf took place in Chicago last Thursday night…and I wasn't there. I was in Flori…
Fats Domino sings "Ain't That a Shame" in Shake, Rattle & Rock!, a 1956 film directed by Edward L. Cahn: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space…
"The Arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self." Francis Bacon, "On Love"
In today's Wall Street Journal I review a show in Fort Myers, Florida Repertory Theatre's revival of A.R. Gurney's The Cocktail Hour. Here's an excerpt. * * * If A.R. Gurney had been born in…
I wrote a piece about Harold Arlen for the latest issue of the Weekly Standard: In one sense Arlen's credits are lackluster. None of his Broadway shows has ever been successfully revived, an…
Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, featuring Lani Hall on lead vocals, perform "Goin' Out of My Head" and "Arrastão" on The Hollywood Palace on December 12, 1967. They are introduced by Herb A…
"Maybe I'm a masochist, but I can’t seem to write anything but plays. I can't write movies or television. I'm caught, I'm trapped in this old medium. It's archaic, it's restrictive bey…
Here's my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Stre…
