2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
I had occasion the other day to Google Mel Powell, a child prodigy who became Benny Goodman's pianist (and a fabulous one, too) at the age of seventeen. Seven years later he switched hats, w…
Jacques d'Amboise dances three excerpts from George Balanchine's Apollo, set to a score by Igor Stravinsky. Melissa Hayden is Terpsichore, Jillana is Calliope, and Patricia Neary is Polyhymn…
"If you're doing the devil, look for the angel in him. If you're doing the angel, look for the devil in him." Hume Cronyn (quoted in the New York Times, June 17, 2003)
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column I report on an all-male revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Here's an excerpt. * * * How do you make the funniest musical e…
An excerpt from Mark Morris' dance version of Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas, performed by the Mark Morris Dance Group and originally telecast in 1995. Morris dances the role of Dido,…
"God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide." Rebecca West, "The Tosh Horse"
…from a great man who overflowed with gratitude. From 1939, Louis Armstrong sings "You're a Lucky Guy," by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin:
"My memory is certainly in my hands. I can remember things only if I have a pencil and I can write with it and I can play with it." Rebecca West, Paris Review interview (Summer 1981)
An excerpt from Magic Fire, William Dieterle's 1954 film biography of Richard Wagner. Erich Wolfgang Korngold, in costume as Hans Richter, is seen conducting the pit orchestra in excerpts fr…
"It's an absurd error to put modern English literature in the curriculum. You should read contemporary literature for pleasure or not read it at all. You shouldn't be taught to monkey with i…
From 2004: To be sure, the one thing a new friend can never do for you is say I knew you when, and I find it rather sad that there are so few people in my life who can speak those words. Non…
"Just how dificult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs." Rebecca West, "The…
I have two good friends who are singletons and claim to actively prefer living alone. It's hard for me to believe that this avowed preference is anything more than a sign that they've yet to…
Sonny Rollins plays Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing" on Swedish TV in 1959. Henry Grimes is the bassist, Joe Harris the drummer: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related video…
"I've never gone anywhere where the men have come up to my infantile expectations. I always have gone through life constantly being surprised by the extreme, marvelous qualities of a small m…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review two New York productions, the Broadway premiere of Misery and an off-Broadway revival of Incident at Vichy. Here's an excerpt. * * * Now that the comm…
In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column I offer a transatlantic perspective on the racial-sensitivity imbroglio at Yale. Here's an excerpt. * * * Erika Christakis, a lecturer at Ya…
The pas de deux and finale from George Balanchine's Stars and Stripes, danced by Melissa Hayden, Jacques d'Amboise, and New York City Ballet. The music is by John Philip Sousa, arranged by H…
"Melancholy is at the bottom of everything, just as at the end of all rivers is the sea." Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Journal intime (trans. Mrs. Humphry Ward)
"Man dies of cold, not of darkness." Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life
Martha Argerich plays Liszt's Sixth Hungarian Rhapsody on TV in 1966: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)
"Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you." William Makepeace Thackeray, Lovel the Widower
I'll be flying to Chicago in two weeks to start rehearsing the Court Theatre's upcoming production of Satchmo at the Waldorf, which opens in January. We've got a lot to do between now and th…
From 2003: I was a small-town second-grader on November 22, 1963. My teacher, Jackie Grant, told the class that the president had been shot and killed, and then we all went home. For me, hom…
"I have arrived too late at ultimate uncertainty." Ezra Pound (quoted in Grazia Livi, "Vi Parla Ezra Pound," Epoca, March 24, 1963)
