#1
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:07pm
The WSJ critic hates most show what shows does he like him
What shows does Terry like
#2
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:10pm
He liked ROCKY. (So did I.) As of late, he liked FUN HOME and THE KING AND I. (And I did, too.)
Teachout and I don't always agree, but I think he's a smart critic with an interest in encouraging the future of serious musical theater.
Updated On: 4/22/15 at 09:10 PM
#3
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:12pm
He thinks that Death of a Salesman is "pseudo-poetic" so...
#4
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:15pm
"He liked ROCKY. (So did I.) As of late, he liked FUN HOME and THE KING AND I. (And I did, too.)
Teachout and I don't always agree, but I think he's a smart critic with an interest in encouraging the future of serious musical theater."
Yes he is indeed. I also find he loves original theater with great developed book.
#5
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:15pm
Which, it KINDA is. Though I do like DEATH OF A SALESMAN very, very much. He did like the last staging with Philip Seymour Hoffman. (The late Philip Seymour Hoffman...holy sh*t. It still makes me sad.)
#6
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:17pm
lmfaooo this thread is funny!! I told you people, he doesn't like anything!! He didn't even like Book of Mormon.
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Updated On: 4/22/15 at 09:17 PM
#7
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:19pm
THE BOOK OF MORMON is, frankly, a piece of sh*t. One that makes a lot of money, but that's not the end all be all. It has a boring, poorly crafted score and a plebeian book with some good jokes.
Be gone, troll.
#8
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:20pm
where the hell did that come from?! You do realize that you are a minority with that opinion
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#9
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:23pm
Yeah. I have no problem expressing it. It's funny and all, but it's a really lousy show.
#10
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:26pm
He also adored Cry-Baby and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#11
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:28pm
He liked Chitty Chitty Bang Band?? Now I'm really never reading his reviews!
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#13
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:30pm
Not liked. LOVED.
It follows his review of the Roundabout Streetcar.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111472863172120138
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#14
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:32pm
Well, that's one we disagreed on. But I was glad he liked ROCKY. I know I'm definitely in the minority on that one, but I thought it was swell.
#15
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:37pm
He also wrote a "review" of the recent biography of Tennessee Williams. He seemed to like the book well enough but spent the whole time rambling on about how Williams actually only made two good plays (and the almost good but not really Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,) and otherwise spent his time rewriting the same play. I can't say I have a lot of respect for his opinion.
#16
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:44pm
Didn't read that review, but I disagree wholeheartedly. In fact, Lahr's dazzling biography made me want to reread the Williams plays I knew and loved, and become familiar with the ones I didn't know that failed in their initial incarnations.
Maybe he was jealous that a fellow critic wrote such a marvelous book? I've never read his Louis Armstrong bio, but I can't see it topping what Lahr did with Williams. Williams may have had his own "stock company" from his family and life in general to reuse and reinvent, but I wouldn't call that "rewriting the same play."
I think Teachout is of the persuasion that Kazan really made Williams. Maybe Kazan organized Williams. Maybe Kazan was the "father figure" that Williams didn't have in C.C. Williams. And of course, Williams' most successful work was done under Kazan's eye...with one major exception. But I don't think Kazan MADE any of the writers he worked with, as brilliant a director as he was.
#17
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:49pm
I really liked Rocky too!
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#18
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:51pm
I agree with you. And yes, we sure are lucky to have gotten two great books on Williams in the past year--Lahr's bio and Follies of God which I just finished. Kazan's role may be exaggerated by some (though I did find the stuff about him in Follies of God interesting, particularly about Williams and William Inge helping each other with early drafts of plays until Williams stopped talking to him after Kazan did Dark at the Top of the Stairs instead of Orpheus Descending.)
Here's Terry's piece (I *may* have been exaggerating, but only slightly :P ) https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/tennessee-one-step/
#19
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:53pm
Count me as a a Rocky fan too! I saw it 2x!!!
#20
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:56pm
I have not read FOLLIES OF GOD yet, but I'll get to it. Maybe after the Cy Coleman bio comes out and I finish reading that one.
Lahr's book is a hefty one, but I truly devoured it. It was one of the best theater biographies I've ever read. Speaking of best theater bios, another great recent one is Sam Wasson's FOSSE.
But I digress...
#21
Posted: 4/22/15 at 9:58pm
Yes, the Fosse book is sitting on my shelf beside the Williams one.
#22
Posted: 4/22/15 at 10:02pm
I read Lahr's book in a week...Wasson's in three days. I wept at the end.
I wonder if Terry Teachout liked it.
#23
Posted: 6/16/15 at 10:26pm
This thread is still hilarious to me!!
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#24
Posted: 6/16/15 at 10:36pm
Terry marches to the beat of his own drummer, and I disagree with him more than I agree with him. He is an intelligent man who sees things from a very different place than I do, although, not surprisingly, we occasionally are in synch on a show. Whether he likes being the contrarian, or just is one, he writes well and is clearer about his tastes than most. And yes there is a reason he has had his perch at a very conservative outlet for a long time.
#25
Posted: 6/16/15 at 10:40pm
Why is this thread hilarious? Wasson's book on FOSSE made me weep by the final page. So be it!
Teachout and I certainly do not agree politically, but I think he's a sound critic and has a good ear for music and musical theater music in particular. That's something to be noted, and celebrated.
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