Almanac: Kingsley Amis on madness by Terry Teachout

"All schizophrenia patients are mad, and none are sane. Their behaviour is incomprehensible. It tells us nothing about what they do in the rest of their lives, gives no insight into the huma…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:00am on May 27, 2015☆⚑

Lookback: on becoming a Recognized Authority by Terry Teachout

From 2005: I got a call yesterday from a fact checker at The New Yorker who wanted to know whether H.L. Mencken actually sent the following form letter to angry correspondents: Dear Sir or M…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 5:15am on May 26, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: John Gielgud on New York at mid-century by Terry Teachout

"New York is a terrifying city but hectically beautiful in many ways. The kindness and welcome are overwhelming, but there is too much money, food and drink and too much respect for success,…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 5:00am on May 26, 2015☆⚑

A Perilous Page of History to Turn by Terry Teachout

The problem is that all this formidable talent has been enlisted in the service of a musical so smug that I could scarcely bear to sit and watch it.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Not for the Faint of Heart! by Terry Teachout

Teller of Penn & Teller fame has come up with "Play Dead," a sensationally entertaining shockfest. Aside from great puppetry, the main new thing about "The Pee-wee Herman Show" is all the do…

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

A Real Tail-Wagger by Terry Teachout

A.R. Gurney's "Sylvia," which is being performed with terrific comic energy by the Florida Repertory Theatre, is both clever and cute in all the right ways.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Taking Another Shot at 'Candide' by Terry Teachout

Of all the great musicals, "Candide" poses the greatest problems to anyone who tries to stage it. Mary Zimmerman, whose "Metamorphoses" hit it big in 2002, is the latest director to take up …

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Head of the Nice Guys Club by Terry Teachout

One of the reasons "Finishing the Hat," Stephen Sondheim's annotated volume of his song lyrics, has attracted so much attention is because he takes potshots at certain of his colleagues...

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Reasons to Be Nervous by Terry Teachout

It's as if they'd tried to turn "Shoot the Piano Player" or "Wings of Desire" into a Big Mac musical—and the results, not at all surprisingly, are a flavorless mess.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Kids Are All Wrong by Terry Teachout

Vampire stories have been done to undeath in Hollywood and on TV, raising the stakes for anyone putting Count Dracula's original story back on stage.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Dude, Who Moved My Samovar? by Terry Teachout

How do you make a play written in pre-Revolutionary Russia in 1900 work in America in 2011?

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Neither Does He Spin by Terry Teachout

Wilfred Sheed managed to make a drama critic look quite a bit like a human being.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Her Master's Voice From the Other Side by Terry Teachout

In "Ghost-Writer," a secretary continues to hear from her employer and transcribe his novels after he's dead. It's a tale pulled from the real life of author Henry James, at the Florida Stag…

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Lindsay-Abaire's Southie Class Portrait by Terry Teachout

David Lindsay-Abaire's "Good People" was a hit before it even opened. But then his audiences can always expect to be told just what they'd like to hear.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Merchant of Broadway by Terry Teachout

When "The Merchant of Venice" appeared in Central Park this summer, it seemed destined for Broadway. Now that it has arrived there, is it ready for the big stage?

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Cowardly Lion Waits for Godot by Terry Teachout

How a baggy-pants comedian did justice to a stage masterpiece.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

An OK 'Oklahoma!' by Terry Teachout

Corny, charming and handsomely made, Arena Stage's production of "Oklahoma!" is pretty much the same show your grandfolks loved. And just as safe.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Relishing a Lost Production by Terry Teachout

"Me and Orson Welles," recently released on DVD, brings a much-praised "Caesar" back to life.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Good Times, Bad Times by Terry Teachout

Is marriage a bed of roses- or of nails? Your answer to that question may depend on whether you choose to see Westport Country Playhouse's sunny revival of "I Do! I Do!" or Barrington Stage …

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

A Fresh Look at Rotten Marriages by Terry Teachout

Joan Ackermann's work on "The Taster," a new play at Shakespeare & Company, recalls Jorge Luis Borges at his most virtuosic.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

When Hellman's Foxes Were Kits by Terry Teachout

"Another Part of the Forest" at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wis., throws a dramatic punch comparable in weight to "The Little Foxes."

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Deep Down in Their Private Lives by Terry Teachout

When not writing plays like "August: Osage County" and "Killer Joe," Tracy Letts acts. In David Cromer's 2005 Off Broadway staging of Austin Pendleton's "Orson's Shadow," he played an effete…

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

They, Too, Sing America by Terry Teachout

John Guare's "A Free Man of Color" masterfully tells a complex, richly realized American story set in New Orleans at the dawn of the 19th century. The Arizona Theatre Company does great just…

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Seven Ways of Looking at 'Angels' by Terry Teachout

Tony Kushner has been served well by Signature Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of "Angels in America," and even those who have their doubts about the play will likely go home feeling …

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

A Good One for the Guys by Terry Teachout

The NFL has put its marketing muscle behind "Lombardi," an extremely well-crafted piece of intelligent middlebrow theater by Eric Simonson.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal Subscription at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑