Stage dust : a critic's cultural scrapbook from the 1990s / Charles Marowitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marowitz, Charles.

Series:

Studies and documentation in the history of popular entertainment ; no. 1.

Studies and documentation in the history of popular entertainment ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theater--United States--Reviews.

Theater.

Theater--United States--History--20th century.

United States.

History.

Genre:

Reviews.

Physical Description:

xv, 249 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2001.

Summary:

Stage Dust is an assortment of notices, columns, profiles, and essays which describe the performances, plays, personalities, trends, and controversies that preoccupied the cultural scene in America in the last decade of the twentieth century, with special emphasis on the theatre. It contains personal observations about some of the most seminal and outstanding performances that took place in the 1990s and the artists that were most prominent during that period. It is culled from a variety of periodical sources including The New York Times, The L.A. Times, American Theatre Magazine, The Guardian (UK), The Sunday Times (UK), The Observer (UK) and London Times (UK).

The book embraces Performing Arts, mime, film, TV, and books and describes the way in which the theatre interacted with the larger cultural climate in the country. Using brief linking commentary, it also fills in for the reader the necessary foreground and background of the items under review.

Contents:

Part I On the Stage

1 Going Round Again: Carousel 3

2 McKellan's Richard III: Junk Shakespeare 6

3 The Main Event: Rent 11

4 Marcel Marceau 13

5 "Non, Merci": Picasso at the Lapin Agile 16

6 The Return of Marivaux: Changes of Heart 19

7 The Next Big One: Ragtime 22

8 ...And All That Jazz!: Chicago 25

9 A Brace of Wildes: An Ideal Husband 27

10 Pinter Goes Home: The Homecoming 31

11 He Who Plays the Prince: Branagh's Hamlet 34

12 Sadean Sex Fantasy: Quills 39

13 Corporate Follies: How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying 42

14 Annette Bening's Hedda: Once over Lightly 45

15 Rodgers, Hammerstein & Hart: The King and I 48

16 Pearls, Pigs, and Platitudes: Foreman on the Cutting Edge 50

17 "Hyde" and Chic: Jekyll & Hyde 54

18 Coward's Courage: Design for Living 57

19 Christopher Plummer's Barrymore: The Great Profile in Caricature 60

20 Make Believe: Ah Wilderness / Eugene O'Neill 63

21 Avignon Theatre Festival: 1998 66

22 The Berliner Ensemble Packs It In 68

23 Defend Us: Monsters of Grace 71

24 "Showboat" for the '90s 74

25 Counting the House: Arms and the Man 77

26 Desperate Gambles: Dealer's Choice / Patrick Marber 80

27 Ibsen for Dummies: Enemy of the People 82

28 A Class Act: Strindberg and Langella: The Father 84

29 The Wilde Bunch: Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde 87

30 Balm for the Mind: Collected Stories 89

31 The Wearing Down of the Green: The Cripple of Inishman 91

32 The Shrew: Reclaiming The Taming 93

33 Shakespeare by Numbers: Measure for Measure and Midsummer Night's Dream 96

Part II Dramatis Personae

34 Artaud: A Centennial Reassessment 101

35 Nicol Williamson: Danger Man 107

36 Remembering Lenny Bruce 110

37 The Exoneration of Elia Kazan 115

38 Robert Lewis: An Appreciation 118

39 Jerzy Grotowsky: An Appreciation 120

40 Howard Stern and the Body Politic 122

41 John Gielgud: The Last Edwardian 126

42 Tom Stoppard: A Little Light Music 128

43 Rachel Rosenthal: Endangered Species 132

Part III On the Page

44 Jacob Adler: A Life on the Stage, Translated and with Commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld 137

45 The Smart Set: George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken / Thomas Quinn Curtiss 141

46 Lola Montez: A Life / Bruce Seymour 144

47 True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor / David Mamet 148

48 Bernard Shaw Theatrics / Dan H. Laurence 152

49 Noel Coward: A Biography / Philip Hoare 155

50 John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor / Michael A. Morrison 158

51 Method Actors: Three Generations of an American Acting Style / Steve Vineberg 161

52 Life, the Movie / Neal Gabler 165

53 Laughing Matters / Larry Gelbart 169

54 Coleridge: "Darker Reflections" 172

55 Still Alive: An Autobiographical Essay / Jan Kott 175

56 Shakespeare: A Life / Park Honan 179

57 How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway?: Writing on Theater / John Heilpern 181

58 The Essential Groucho / Stefan Kanfer 185

59 Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas / Douglas Murray 188

60 Dream Catcher / Margaret Salinger 193

Part IV Think Pieces

61 Two Cheers for Broadway 199

62 "Were You There When They Crucified Our Play?" 202

63 This Wooden "O" 205

64 What's in a Name? 209

65 Private World, Public Words 212

66 "It's a Barnum & Bailey World" 218

67 Pimps and Parasites 221

68 Blinded by Science 224

69 The Idiot Box 227

70 Deathless Cyrano 230

71 The Critics' Lot: U.S. vs. U.K. 233

72 Actors and Stars 236

73 Stealing the Show 239

74 The Case for a National Theater 242

75 Drought of the Imagination 245.

ISBN:

0810840456

OCLC:

46359474