Liars and Saints

  The heavy-hitters who have played Dot: Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Annaleigh Ashford, Melissa Errico, Ashley Park, Maryann Plunkett, Carmen Cusack, Andrea Burns, Maria Friedman, Talia Suskauer, Jenna Russell. Heather Headley and Michaela Diamond have done portions of the show in concert.  These are big names! One thing that people tend to miss about "Move On." Sondheim was always talking about the marriage of content and form. HOW it's said matters more than WHAT it is. Sondheim's duets were unlike other duets; SS did things beyond the "you sing a verse, I'll sing a verse" format. In Sondheim, voices overlap and become dissonant and then harmonious and then dissonant again. "Move On" begins with an argument. We're used to this. Dot and George cannot see eye to eye. "I've nothing to say." "You have MANY things." But something shifts. D and G begin to articulate thoughts that *complement* one another. From Dot...

  Very early in life, my daughter began calling me Mom. Or Mama. Or Mommy. Her brother picked up the habit. The behaviorist who comes to our house finds this troubling. She always issues corrections. Papa. That's Papa. And I'm reminded of a colleague from an elementary school. This colleague would always demand that children use realistic colors in coloring assignments. Flesh could never be green or hot pink. Hair could never be tangerine-colored. I found this tyrannical--and I think I did not make much of an effort to disguise the rolling of my eyes. My daughter seems (at times) to want a world in which everyone is slightly more flexible about gender--and I'm on board. I believe I have persuaded her to wear a dress that advertises prime numbers. A break from the unicorns and princesses. The dress is called "Prime Twins," and it "celebrates" certain pairs. 11 and 13. 41 and 43. Pairs of primes that are separated by exactly one composite number. When my d...

 Season Nine of "The Simpsons" is special because of "Kicking It: The Betty Ford Musical." This is a spoof that appears in "The City of New York Versus Homer Simpson." Marge wants to travel to 42nd Street. "I've always dreamed of being in an audience in a Broadway show." The musical she selects features a young Justin Bieberesque ne'er-do-well: No more pills or alcohol-- No more pot or Demerol-- No more stinkin' fun at all! I'm CHECKING IN. One might think this is broad satire--but what is brilliant is that "Checking In" features the *exact* "tier" of writing quality that you could expect in a contemporary Broadway musical not authored by Stephen Sondheim. This is the opening of "Wild," a song that is considered a standout in "The Lost Boys": I remember how it used to be... Times were innocent, and love was free. We'd play guitar and dance... Singing...GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! (Frankly, I pr...

  "The Big Orange Splot" is the story of Mr. Plumbean, who dreams of owning a pet alligator. One day, a seagull visits and spills orange paint on Plumbean's house. ("No one knew why the gull was carrying paint.") Suddenly freed from the demands of conformity, Plumbean begins to realize his dream. He acquires his alligator. (The details of the acquisition are omitted.) At times, the alligator sits like a cat under Plumbean's hammock. At other times, the alligator "basks"; he gets on his back and stretches his webbed toes toward the sky. As in "Grey Gardens," the central pair in "The Big Orange Splot" becomes more and more fond of eccentricity. Mr. Plumbean plants "baobabs, onions, and frangipani." He constructs a clock tower and paints it with rainbow colors. This book seems to be a spiritual godparent to "Extra Yarn," by Jon Klassen. For me, the highlight is the basking alligator.

 In my family, there is great fondness for Pete Buttigieg. Those half-whispered cool-as-ice takedowns on CNN and Fox News. The slightly embarrassing obsession he has with "the Dave Matthews Band." We sometimes listen multiple times to "Buttigieg sound bytes"--as if we're replaying (and re-replaying) a Whitney Houston riff. We really enjoyed his recent personal essay. A personal essay from Pete Buttigieg! He had been targeted by a right-wing nut. Someone made a false claim to Child Protection Services--and Buttigieg was forcibly separated from his family and required to stay in a hotel overnight. Buttigieg is not Nora Ephron; the essay is not overflowing with glittery observations. But it is plainspoken, and I imagine it has helped to "open" many, many eyes. The Pete Buttigieg philosophy seems to be "keep calm and carry on." I'm sometimes able to listen--but not on Sunday nights, when I inevitably feel anxious and choose (unwisely) to eat ...

  Matthew Quick has just written his first memoir--and it's notable. Sometimes a memoir can seem guarded or self-serving, but Quick lets it all hang out. Having written "Silver Linings Playbook," Quick anticipates a Hollywood career. He writes some screenplays. Nothing goes anywhere. He finds himself blocked. This coincides with a period of bad eating and excessive drinking--until Quick no longer recognizes himself. He begins to consider suicide. As Quick struggles to pull himself together, he considers the life of a compelling secondary character, his own father. Quick Senior has severe panic attacks. He disrupts a theatrical performance because he believes he has dropped his wallet; he begins shouting at the ushers. Once the wallet is retrieved, he cannot offer thanks. Having started to succumb to senility, Senior begins ranting about his wife. If she visits the grandkids for one night, it must mean that she has opted for a divorce. Senior also shuts down in terror when...