The Wild Party

By now you’ve probably heard all about the New York wunderkinds, Andrew Rasmussen and Rob Laqui, who are bringing Andrew Lippa’s award-winning jazz musical to town. But Joseph Moncure March remains obscure. He’s the man whose 1928 prose-poem spectacular inspired the musical, which recounts the booziest, bawdiest, sleaziest and most stylin’ bash in 1920s Manhattan. … Read more

The Notebook and The Proof

Our love for Belgium doesn’t stop at frites and chocolate; the Flemish have as much a knack for the avant-garde as their Dutch neighbors. Take De Onderneming, the minimalist, director-free company that is the latest import in the Guthrie’s World Stage Series. This four-member troupe of street performers will reprise The Notebook and The Proof, … Read more

The Train Wreck is Proceeding Nicely

Game show hosts, goateed beatniks, and a chorus line of bathing beauties? Why, it could only be a McCarthy hearing! Time Track Productions takes an absurdist look at the red scare by envisioning the questioning of J. Robert Oppenheimer as a fifties-era variety show. It’s hard to take on the politics of fear, whether vintage … Read more

Apartment 3A

It’s usually not a good thing when your landlord takes an interest in your love life. But in Annie Wilson’s case, a little meddling is just what she needs. Having recently lost what she thought was the love of her life, she’s uprooted herself to a new apartment across town. The landlord tells her 3A … Read more

Jane Eyre the Musical

Yes, it seems outlandish, but that’s the correct title. Charlotte Bronte’s classic tale of bitterness and resignation, rendered as a musical. Poor dowdy Jane cultivated an air of invisibility as she skulked about doing her menial work and watching her cruel crush woo other ladies, so the very thought of this mousy heroine breaking into … Read more

to the editor

REPRESENTATIVE MANWhile Clinton Collins’ musings have long been a favorite of mine, it is a shame that he is perpetuating the (implied) myth of how the shortest month of the year came to be Black History Month [Love It and Leave It, February]. The selection of February, in fact, was made by a black scholar, … Read more

Dopes on Journalism

Image courtesy Nathan Walsh Now that we know that President Bush smoked dope, I guess we can finally admit that we were in the room when some of that went on at our college, too. And, also because we now know the President has finally admitted to what we all knew anyway, I don’t feel … Read more

Why my cable bill is so high

Every time I look at my Time Warner bill and wonder why I’m paying so much for so little I think of Groucho’s advice: “I find TV very educational. When someone turns it on, I go into the other room and read a good book.” It’s not that easy though. I’m as dumb as the … Read more

Voting for ourselves

The Strib did a nice job last Sunday in their Op-Ex section on immigrants. Some views from both sides, including some of their own pieces and the obligatory screed from the Center of the American Experiment. (Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a link to the series, so you’ll have to dig the section out … Read more