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Let Me Down Easy
Re Dan Rottenberg’s review of Let Me Down Easy—
I too enjoyed and was much moved by Anna Deavere Smith’s show. One quibble with your review, though: I never took Deavere Smith’s portrayal of her interview subjects as endorsement of their views, as you seem to have; e.g., in Deavere Smith’s portrayal, Lauren Hutton’s approach to her illness appears to have been diametrically opposed to that of Governor Richards, who actively questioned her doctors and nurses where Hutton didn’t.
If one listens, one hears a reasonably broad dialectic at play among Deavere Smith’s subjects.
David Millstone
East Falls/ Philadelphia
March 24, 2011
Ms.Smith’s idiosyncratic “one woman genre” has made theater history. As the only international star (so far) of my 20 years at Beaver College (1962-82), she reminds me there is no such thing as a “minor” college. An institution is only as great as its capacity to release the genius of a
superficially ordinary looking young student. Praise her humanism! Like Dan’s father-in-law, she assessed her assets (high IQ, unprepossessing body) and changed theater history— and humanism.
Patrick D.Hazard
Weimar, Germany
March 25, 2011
Japan’s disasters
“Lessons from Japan’s earthquake,” by Benjamin Olshin, was an excellent appraisal of and how-to primer for post-disaster behavior.
I took special note of and appreciation for the media response in Japan, versus our typical coverage here. Has anyone been watching NHK, which seems to be a new (maybe for the disaster period only?) all-news entry in our market? It’s a pleasure to not see idiots like some of our local reporters sticking microphones in the faces of victims and posing such asinine queries as “How do you feel?” Do Channels 2, 6 and 10, Fox et al honestly believe such sophomoric journalism attracts other than the lowest common denominator viewers?
Come on, folks, let’s raise the tide and actually try good reporting. The personal angle is an entirely valid one, especially when done with compassion and class.
Paul Decker
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
March 23, 2011
Requiem for a coal baron
I enjoyed Dan Rottenberg’s very well written and appreciative column about Ted Leisenring, an entrepreneur of a type we have lost in the age of snotnosed Internet magnates. His decision to work in the mines reminds me a little of Peter the Great, who set about to work as a common seaman aboard the fleet he was building so he would know every aspect of the sailing business.
Of course, both men knew they would be going back to their thrones in due course.
Robert Zaller
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
March 23, 2011
Houdini in New York
Re “The Jew as the ultimate escape artist“—
Only an intellectual historian of the finesse of Robert Zaller could connect Houdini’s disappearing act with a historic affliction of the Jew. Another home run from our favorite slugger. (Is he on egghead steroids?)
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
March 23, 2011
On reviewing ‘previews’
Re “The theatergoer who reviewed a preview,” by Dan Rottenberg (Editor’s Notebook)—
I have no awareness of the Theatre Alliance assembling a group for any purpose in City Hall courtyard at any time in the near or distant future. So I would appreciate your giving some clarity to your claim that we are somehow organizing to punish the Broad Street Review.
On the contrary, I do agree that theaters should be more explicit about announcing their press openings. I also think that it is not necessary for critics and theaters to have an antagonistic relationship, and I am committed to fostering a more productive dialogue between these two important sectors of our industry.
Perhaps next time you should give me a call when you are confronted with a conflict rather than cavalierly calling out an entire organization erroneously.
Margie Salvante
Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia
Center City/ Philadelphia
March 17, 2011
Very clever response. Having committed the same sin and been harshly attacked both by the Arden Theatre and by BSR, I can sympathize with Marshall Ledger, whom I know as a first-rate editor and writer.
The fault lies with the Arden, which does not do a very good job differentiating between its previews and its “finished products.”
I no longer recall which play I innocently saw and reviewed (a day before it “opened"), but I’ll never forget the criticism to which I was subjected.
What made the occasion more memorable than the actual play was that I had written a favorable review.
Jane Biberman
Washington Square/ Philadelphia
March 17, 2011
Like all that is good and holy, Marshall Ledger has risen. I just talked to him yesterday on the road to Emmaus, by way of Walnut Street. Hosanna! He lives to write another review!
Jennifer Baldino Bonett
South Philadelphia
March 16, 2011
John Haines
Robert Zaller’s obit for Alaska’s laureate poet, John Haines, is exemplary.
During my exploration of “my 50th” and final state in the 1980’, an afternoon with John was by far the high point of my visit.
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
March 20, 2011
I have never read John Haines’s poetry but Robert Zaller’s tribute has made me realize that I’ve been deprived. I will go buy a book of his poetry as soon as possible. Thank you, Robert, for making me aware of him.
I wish there could be more writing about poets and poetry in BSR. After all, aren’t many of us poets at heart?
Judith Ingram
Newtown Square, Pa.
March 23, 2011
Thank you for the lovely piece on John Haines. I knew him in the 1970s — he was guest faculty in the great MFA creative writing program at the University of Montana, where my then-husband was enrolled. We got to know him rather well but lost touch. I knew about his reputation for “being difficult,” but found him always to be soft-spoken, deeply felt, and reflective.
Montana is a lot like Alaska — always at risk of environmental ruin— and he fit in so well with the milieu in Missoula at the time.
My best memory was seeing him in a completely different context— at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. We were seeing the same exhibition (“American Luminism”— what a wonderful show for someone with such appreciation for landscape). He had left Missoula a few years before, but he recognized me in the crowd and we had a typical John Haines conversation. I never saw him after that.
A wonderful talent and a wonderful soul. May he have infinite peace and rest.
Mary Lenihan
Hermosa Beach, Calif.
March 29, 2011
Man’s guide to aging
Re “A man’s best friend is his cut-off,” by Perry Block—
May there never be a cut-off for reading Perry Block.
Jackie Atkins
Northern Liberties/ Philadelphia
March 15, 2011
Funny. According to my daughter, there was a cut-off for curly hair when I turned 50. But I plan to rebel…
Merilyn Jackson
South Philadelphia
March 28, 2011
Diary of a heart attack
Re “Diary of a heart attack survivor,” by Bob Levin—
Bob, you are the only person I know who can make a heart attack amusing. Thanks for the account and all the author’s tips.
Marilyn Fabe
Kensington, Calif.
March 7, 2011
Great article Bob! Although I wish it didn’t happen to you. I’m feeling a sort of tightness in my chest now...hope it’s just empathy.
Bud Roper
Baltimore, Md.
March 8, 2011
You’re looking ahead to spiritual transformation; I’m thinking back to my grandmother. I always thought the stents in my chest are like the chicken wire that kept my grandmother’s flock together and gave them a home (until my father came along with the red-headed hatchet to dispense one for our dinner). Well, perhaps spiritual transformation and thoughts of my grandmother amount to the same thing. And the chicken wire/stents are in both cases a way to keep the good in and hold off the circling foxes.
Griffin Dix
Kensington, Calif.
March 8, 2011
Bob Levin replies: I love the protective “chicken wire” analogy. Though I’m not sure I’m ready to focus on the inevitability of that axe-wielding grandfather.
What a well done review: clear and concise.
Bob, I don’t want to diminish the fear you might have felt along the way, but take it from one who knows: This was much scarier for Adele than for you!
You certainly didn’t earn this heart attack. Being male and Jewish isn’t your fault!
My John didn’t earn it either, being fit and lean and living a healthy lifestyle. Being 87, having an unknown congenital heart defect, and being a male were a couple of strikes against him. But I don’t think being a Unitarian was a cause.
Happy fondling!
Carol Alice
Vancouver, Wash.
March 28, 2011
Meyer Levin’s Anne Frank obsession
“Who owns Anne Frank?” by Dan Rottenberg (Editor’s Notebook) is a brilliant gloss on a controversy I missed entirely, perhaps because, in spite of my interest and love for Anne Frank, I’m just a somewhat blinded gentile. Dan’s perception of the relevance of Inherit the Wind deserves classic status.
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
March 9, 2011
Well thought out and well expressed.
Bob Levin
Berkeley, Calif.
March 9, 2011
Superior Donuts at the Arden
Re Marshall Ledger’s review of Superior Donuts at the Arden—
This is an American Cherry Orchard with an American resolution. Witty, well-acted, and some delightfully fanciful footwork by convincing character— -these strengths outweigh the few melodramatic plot devices. What a pleasure to see drama that’s both comic without being mindless and serious without being hopeless.
Mary E. Hazard
Center City/ Philadelphia
March 9, 2011
Great review— written in the inimitable, elegant, precise Ledger style. We’re also great Tracy Letts’ fans, and have tickets for Superior Donuts. However, Marshall Ledger’s review makes us even more eager to see the play.
I look forward to future Ledger critiques.
Libby S. Harwitz
Society Hill/ Philadelphia
March 9, 2011
This past weekend, my wife and had the privilege of seeing the superb production of Superior Donuts at the Arden. All I can say is that we are fantastically lucky to have such a powerful playwright as Tracy Letts working now, along with the brilliant actors at the peak of their powers who can bring his dramas to life for an audience. Donuts is the best thing I’ve seen on the stage in years, at a time when theater seems to burn very brightly indeed in this town.
Ralph Dratman
Cherry Hill, N.J.
March 22, 2011
Solzhenitsyn and the Chamber Orchestra
Re “Solzhenitsyn’s balanced return,” by Tom Purdom—
I thought Lutoslawski’s Funeral Music was wonderful. I don’t care whether it’s 12-tone or whatever the tonality is, as long as I can feel the emotion in it. And the ending was out of the ordinary.
I was up in the second balcony of the Perelman (courtesy of the Philly Fun Guide). I struck up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me, who thought the Mozart wasn’t always that well coordinated between piano and orchestra, though he loved the passion in it anyway. I agree with Purdom: A few dropped notes are a small price to pay for the passion they generated.
I don’t know the Mozart well enough to say, but I thought Solzhenitsyn as pianist may have added a few notes in some of the flourishes. It didn’t bother me, though, because he got the feeling just right.
And the Haydn symphony was full of unexpected touches. He is really an under appreciated composer.
I’d like to add that I especially enjoy the added insights I get from Tom Purdom’s reviews. He always seems to call my attention to something I’ve missed at a concert I’ve attended. I’ll keep reading as long as he keeps writing.
Henry Pashkow
Center City/ Philadelphia
March 9, 2011
In the Next Room at the Wilma
Re Dan Rottenberg’s review of Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, at the Wilma—
Heh, who can complain about the recently enlivened muse of our prolific editor? As long as he laces his musings with memorable Mel Brooksisms, I’m a happy reader. My mind vibrates sweetly to his mildly aroused sexual wisdom.
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
March 11, 2011
The Empire Builders
Boris Vian’s The Empire Builders is indeed, as Robert Zaller put it, a play “of dispossession and decline,” and, per Jim Rutter, it is desperate. It is more relentlessly pessimistic than anything by O’Neill, Beckett et al, and therefore was worth seeing.
Tina Brock and her Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium deserve praise for presenting this challenging work.
Steve Cohen
King of Prussia, Pa.
March 12, 2011
Optimism and the Middle East
Re “The West’s debt to the Arabs,” by Dan Rottenberg (Editor’s Notebook)—
I hate to rain on my editor’s parade, but a closer look at events in the Middle East gives this observer considerably less cause for euphoria. The army has ruled Egypt since 1952 under the fig leaf of three “civilian” dictators, Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak, all themselves generals; getting rid of Mubarak, who at 82 was due for retirement anyway, has not changed that reality.
In Tunisia, the departure of Ben Ali has left chaos in its wake, and, as Libyan refugees pour across its borders, so Tunisians themselves are desperately fleeing for Europe. Tribal Libya will have civil war if Qaddafi is forced out, with no exit in sight. If Saleh falls in Yemen, Al Qaeda will be the principal beneficiary.
The revolutions of 2011 are important. They have no parallel since the European revolutions of 1848. Their effects will be long lasting. It should be remembered, however, that the 1848 revolutions all failed, at least in the short term. The old regimes, bowed but unbroken, came back in Germany, Austria and Italy. The French exchanged a monarch for an emperor. No one can say with certainty, or even much probability, what result the present events will bring to the Middle East. But Western-style democracy, such as it is, is surely the least likely one.
Robert Zaller
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
March 2, 2011
Tunisia as a way to collective sanity? Let’s hope so. But in my 90-day trek around the Mediterranean to celebrate my 50th birthday in 1977, my pit stop in Tunisia between Algeria and Egypt was a puzzle.
Yesterday a young “German” Kosovan Muslim killed two Americans on their way to Afghanistan and wounded two others at Frankfurt’s airport. He tweeted with a gun, not a phone.
Still, if global optimism is good enough for Moses and a Reconstructionist Dan, I’m holding my crossed, ex-Christian, fingers. Hard.
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
March 4, 2011
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Re the review of The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Pamela and Gresham Riley—
Was it really necessary to include in your review the pivotal surprise ending?
It doesn’t affect me— I’ve seen the play already (and even named my cat Wee Thomas). But for those who were hoping to go in fresh, this review will completely ruin the biggest surprise I’ve seen on a stage in 30-plus years of theatergoing. What a shame.
Kirsten Felix
Williamsport Pa.
February 27, 2011
Pamela and Gresham Riley reply: One reason we enjoy writing for BSR is that we’re not bound by traditional conventions of commercial journalism. We would be severely restricted in our discussion if a primary consideration had to be protecting “those who were hoping to go in [to the theater] fresh.” This would mean writing nothing about major themes, character development (or lack thereof) or relevant historical background. The Lieutenant of Inishmore is too rich a play, too dramatically powerful, for its success to depend on a surprise ending.
Rinne Groff’s Compulsion
Re Carol Rocamora’s review of Rinne Groff’s Compulsion in New York—
Mazel tov. You are one of the few critics who really got it! Thank you.
Stephen Groff
St. Petersburg, Fla.
March 1, 2011
Editor’s note: The writer is the playwright’s father.
Pennsylvania Ballet’s Swan Lake competition
Re “A real-life battle of the swans,” by Jim Rutter—
Hard to believe Roy Kaiser didn’t give the Swan Queen role to Riolama Lorenzo or Julie Diana, but his decision could simply be one of necessity.
Saturday night I saw a trashy-looking performance of David Parson’s Remember Me at the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Center for the Arts. The problem? Abby Silva, who originated the Maria character so splendidly, is four months pregnant, and a rookie who merely danced the steps had to be sent in.
It would be interesting to find out if any of the Pennsylvania Ballet’s principal dancers have health issues or other conflicts that forced this decision. And even more interesting to see how Lauren Fadely and Brooke Moore take advantage of this opportunity, or not.
Merilyn Jackson
South Philadelphia
March 3, 2011
Jim Rutter replies: Three of the company’s five principal dancers (Riolama Lorenzo, Martha Chamberlain and Amy Aldridge) all danced minor or featured roles in the opening of Swan Lake. Julie Diana also appeared as the Seamstress. They’re all scheduled for the remainder of the run. Two of the other principals, as you suspected, are pregnant.
Yeah, but..... Casting for Swan Lake was decided and announced before Martha Chamberlain announced her retirement.
Calvin Haas
Glenside, Pa.
March 8, 2011
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