Monday, August 10, 2009

musical thoughts: there really should be...

There really should be more Emily Dickinson in rock (like The Schramms' "Of All the Souls"). And there really should be a rock or punk cover version of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" (are you reading this, Nick Cave?)

Friday, August 07, 2009

The Google Book Settlement

Many thoughtful voices are raising questions about the settlement, which still requires court approval. Here are two recent articles, each of which contains links:

The Register 8/5/09 Link

O'Reilly Radar 4/17/09 Link

I think it is beneficial for the books to be digitized and be searchable and available to the public. I do, though, have qualms about granting Google a monopoly. I would love to know what my readers think.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Delacorte Theater in Central Park (Shakespeare and other) History of Productions

I was having a friendly argument with Mary Beth about whether all of Shakespeare's plays have been produced at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. So I went looking for a list of the New York Shakespeare Festival (later renamed the Public Theater) productions in the park... couldn't find one online. So I made one. Turns out all of Shakespeare's plays have been presented in the Park, except for The Two Noble Kinsmen, attributed to Shakespeare and John Fletcher. ('Kinsmen' was produced at Lafayette Street's Public Theater in 2003.) Starting and ending dates of each show are not all correct. Corrections, comments welcome.

1962 (first year of Delacorte Theater)
Merchant of Venice June 18-
      George C. Scott
The Tempest
      Paul Stevens, James Earl Jones
King Lear
      Frank Silvera

1963
Antony and Cleopatra Jun 13
As You Like It July 11
The Winter's Tale Aug 8-31

1964
Hamlet June 10 - July 4
Othello July 8 - Aug 1
      James Earl Jones
Electra (Sophocles) Aug 5-29

1965
Love's Labour's Lost June 8
Coriolanus July 13
Troilus and Cressida Aug 10

1966
All's Well That Ends Well June 16 - July 2 (the play's New York professional premiere according to the NYT!!)
Measure for Measure July 6 - 30
Richard III Aug 3-27

1967
Comedy of Errors Jun 8
King John Jul
Titus Andronicus Aug

1968
Henry IV Parts I and II June 11 - Aug 3
Romeo and Juliet Aug 7-31

1969
two shows
Peer Gynt (Henrik Ibsen) July 8 - Aug 2
Twelfth Night Aug 6 - Aug 30

1970
The Wars of the Roses Jun 21- Aug 22
In repertory -
Wars of the Roses Part One, Wars of the Roses Part Two, (a retitling of Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3) and Richard III
Marathon production given twice - June 28
Wars of the Roses and Richard III

1971
Timon of Athens Jun 29 - Jul 18
Two Gentlemen of Verona Jul 22 - Aug 8
Cymbeline Aug 12-29

1972
Hamlet June 20
Ti-Jean and His Brothers (Derek Walcott) Aug
Much Ado About Nothing - Aug 17

1973
two shows
As You Like It June 21
King Lear Aug 1
    James Earl Jones

1974
two shows
Pericles June 20
The Merry Wives of Windsor Jul 31

1975
Hamlet Jun 18 - Jul 19
     Sam Waterston
Comedy of Errors Jul 24 - Aug 24

1976
Henry V Jun 24
Measure for Measure Jul 28

1977
The Threepenny Opera (Brecht/Weill) Jun 28 - Jul
Agamemnon (Aeschylus) Aug

1978
All's Well That Ends Well Jun 29-
Taming of the Shrew Aug 3
      Raul Julia, Meryl Streep

1979
Coriolanus June 28
Othello Jul 27

1980
only one show
The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan) Jul 15 - Aug 24
      Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt

1981
The Tempest June 26 - July 26
Henry IV Part 1 July 31 - Aug 30

1982
Don Juan (Moliere) June 14- July 17
A Midsummer Night's Dream Jul 30 -Aug 28

1983
Richard III June 30 - July 31
Non Pasquale (rewrite by Nancy Heikin and Anthony Giles of Donizetti's opera) Aug 9 - Sep 4

1984
Henry V Jun 22 - Jul 23
      Kevin Kline, Anthony Heald
NYT review
The Golem (H. Leivick) Aug 3 - Sept 2
   F. Murray Abraham, Randy Quaid

1985
Measure for Measure June 30 - July 21
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Rupert Holmes's adaptation of Dickens's unfinished novel) Aug 3 - Sept 1

1986
Twelfth Night June 20 - July 20
Medea (Euripides) Aug

1987
Richard II Jun 24 - July 19
Two Gentlemen of Verona Jul 24 - Aug 16
Henry IV Part I Aug 27 - Sept 13

1988
Much Ado About Nothing Jul 9 - 31
      Kevin Kline, Blythe Danner
King John Aug 5 - Sep 4

1989
Twelfth Night Jun 23 - Jul 23
      Jeff Goldblum, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michelle Pfeiffer, Gregory Hines
Titus Andronicus Aug 4 - Sept 2

1990
Taming of the Shrew Jun 22 - Jul 22
Richard III Aug 3 - Sept 2
      Denzel Washington
Romeo and Juliet Sept

1991
Othello June 21- Jul 14
      Raul Julia, Christopher Walken
A Midsummer Night's Dream July 30 - Aug 11
The Tempest Aug 27 - Sept 8

October 31 - Joseph Papp died at 70

1992
As You Like It July 9
The Comedy of Errors Aug 6 - 30

1993
Measure for Measure July 1 - 25
   Kevin Kline, Andre Braugher
NYT review
All's Well That Ends Well Aug 5 - 29
   Miriam Healy-Louie
NYT review

1994
The Merry Wives of Windsor Jul
   David Alan Grier, Tonya Pinkins, Andrea Martin
NYT review
The Two Gentlemen of Verona Aug 18
   Peter J. Gerety, Camryn Manheim
NYT review

1995
The Tempest June 22 -July 19
      Patrick Stewart
Troilus and Cressida Aug 4 - Sep 3

1996
Henry V Jun 30
Timon of Athens Aug

1997
Henry VIII Jun 13 - Jul 9
On The Town (Bernstein/Comden/Green) Jul 31 - Aug 31

1998
Skin of Our Teeth (Thornton Wilder) Jun
Cymbeline Aug 16

1999
The Taming of the Shrew July 1
Tartuffe (Moliere) Aug 22

2000
The Winter's Tale July 6-16
Julius Caesar Aug 8 - Sept 3

2001
Measure for Measure Jun 17-28
The Seagull (Chekhov) Aug 12-26
      Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Philip Seymour Hoffman

2002
only one show
Twelfth Night Jun 25- Aug 11

2003
one show
Henry V June 26- Aug 10

2004
one show
Much Ado About Nothing Jul 1-Aug 8

2005
back to two shows
As You Like It Jun - Jul 17
Two Gentlemen of Verona Aug 28 - Sep 11

2006
Macbeth Jun 28 - Jul 9
      Liev Schrieber
[Cycle of all 37 plays completed at the Delacorte]
Mother Courage and Her Children (Brecht) Aug 21- Sep 3
      Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline
Peer Gynt (Ibsen) Oct

2007
Romeo and Juliet Jun 7 - Jul 8
A Midsummer Night's Dream Aug 23- Sep 9
Hair (Rado/Ragni/MacDermot) Sep 22-24

2008
Hamlet Jun 17-29
Hair Aug 7 - Sep 14
      Jonathan Groff, Will Swenson

2009
Twelfth Night
      Anne Hathaway
The Bacchae (Euripides) Aug 11-30

2010
(Two Shakespeare plays in repertory)
The Winter's Tale
The Merchant of Venice (first time at Delacorte since 1962)
      Al Pacino, Lily Rabe
The Capeman (Paul Simon/Derek Walcott) Aug 14-16

2011
(In repertory)
June 6 - July 30
Measure for Measure
All's Well That Ends Well

2012
As You Like It June 5 - 30
Into the Woods (Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine)  July 23 - August 5

2013
The Comedy of Errors May 28 - June 30
Love's Labour's Lost Jul 23 - Aug 18

2014
Much Ado About Nothing
King Lear

2015
The Tempest May 27 - July 5
Cymbeline July 27 - Aug 23

2016
The Taming of the Shrew May 24 - June 26
Troilus and Cressida  July 19 - Aug 14

2017
Julius Caesar May 23 - June 18
A Midsummer Night's Dream July 11 - Aug 13

CROSS-REFERENCE

All's Well That Ends Well - 1966, 1978, 1993, 2011
Antony and Cleopatra - 1963
As You Like It - 1963, 1973, 1992, 2005, 2012
The Comedy of Errors - 1967, 1975, 1992, 2013
Coriolanus - 1965, 1979
Cymbeline - 1971, 1998, 2015
Hamlet - 1964, 1972, 1975, 2008
Henry IV Part 1 - 1968, 1981, 1987
Henry IV Part 2 - 1968
Henry V - 1976, 1984, 1996, 2003
Henry VI Part 1 - 1970
Henry VI Part 2 - 1970
Henry VI Part 3 - 1970
Henry VIII - 1997
Julius Caesar - 2000, 2017
King John - 1967, 1988
King Lear - 1962, 1973, 2014
Love's Labour's Lost - 1965, 2013
Macbeth - 2006
Measure for Measure - 1966, 1976, 1985, 1993, 2001, 2011
The Merchant of Venice - 1962, 2010
The Merry Wives of Windsor - 1974, 1994
A Midsummer Night's Dream - 1982, 1991, 2007, 2017
Much Ado About Nothing - 1972, 1988, 2004, 2014
Othello - 1964, 1979, 1991
Pericles - 1974
Richard II - 1987
Richard III - 1966, 1970, 1983, 1990
Romeo and Juliet - 1968, 1990, 2007
The Taming of the Shrew - 1978, 1990, 1999, 2016
The Tempest - 1962, 1981, 1991, 1995, 2015
Timon of Athens - 1971, 1996
Titus Andronicus - 1967, 1989
Troilus and Cressida - 1965, 1995, 2016
Twelfth Night - 1969, 1986, 1989, 2002, 2009
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - 1971, 1987, 1994, 2005
The Two Noble Kinsmen - Not yet produced
The Winter's Tale - 1963, 2000, 2010

Monday, March 23, 2009

The Hackensack River

The Hackensack River at New Bridge, River Edge, NJ, May 2004
The Hackensack River
Click image for larger size

Friday, February 06, 2009

Lux Interior, 1948-2009

Brilliant and creative when performing, friendly and approachable off stage. I saw The Cramps more times than I can count, probably every time at CBGBs. So sad another symbol and mainstay of that time is gone.

"angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night" - Allen Ginsberg, "Howl"

"he who kisses the joy as it flies/ lives in Eternity's sunrise" - William Blake

Sunday, January 25, 2009

As an experiment, I'm going to post here some of the little blurts I write about music on last.fm -- called "shouts" in the last.fm universe.

The Fall - No Bulbs from The Wonderful & Frightening World of The Fall
I love the melodic stuff from when Brix was around.

Liz Phair - Glory from Exile in Guyville
The guitar seems to have an unusual tuning -- any musicians out there?

Liz Phair - Dogs of L.A. from Whip-Smart
another weird guitar tuning. And bonus points for name-checking both Super 8 and Abe Vigoda.

Liz Phair - Stuck on an Island
"I tried to bend it back into shape with a rake for a crowbar"

Tuesday, January 13, 2009