I love stage musicals. We were raised on a collection of cast albums from classic Broadway shows and my sister and I learned every song by heart. We’ve continued the tradition, to the present and both of us admire this form that combines the best aspects of art and entertainment. While we both love being entertained (who doesn’t?) it is the experimental side of this form that really draws me, how directors and playwrights and composers alter or recombine the elements of a musical to tell a new story or get the audience to view an known one from a new perspective. That’s probably why I admire Stephen Sondheim’s work so much and why I’m glad Meryle Secrest’s biography, Stephen Sondheim: A Life is a discerning review of his life and accomplishments. This composer of cerebral entertainment deserves an intelligent biography, even if he makes a living in show business. Some would believe Mr. Sondheim was pre-ordained for a life in theatre, given his New York background, a talent for music and the teacher-student relationship he developed with Oscar Hammerstein II. Ms. Secrest’s well-researched biography suggests otherwise. Rather than developing a relationship with Mr. Hammerstein because of his interest in…
It’s started getting warmer here. Oh, my poor sister is still in the land of ice and snow but I saw my first bumblebee yesterday, hovering around the forsythia and ready to go into business. It’s time to start thinking of sandals and sunscreen, vacations and fireworks. It’s time to start thinking about summer and books to read at the beach. Beach Lit is, from what I’ve seen , a well-known but under-appreciated genre. Yes, the book must be light enough in tone and weight to fit with life by the surf and it needs to be entertaining but, most of all, it needs to remind the reader why life and living are precious. There should be some lessons learned, some perspectives changed and, to be perfect, it should have something to do with the natural world. Do you want to stretch out on your towel and imagine yourself in the stock exchange? Of course not! At any rate, a novel is coming out next month that will fit perfectly into this category. If you are looking for a new take on some traditional escapist fare, tuck a copy of Karen White’s The Sound of Glass into your beach tote,…
It’s started getting warmer here. Oh, my poor sister is still in the land of ice and snow but I saw my first bumblebee yesterday, hovering around the forsythia and ready to go into business. It’s time to start thinking of sandals and sunscreen, vacations and fireworks. It’s time to start thinking about summer and books to read at the beach. Beach Lit is, from what I’ve seen , a well-known but under-appreciated genre. Yes, the book must be light enough in tone and weight to fit with life by the surf and it needs to be entertaining but, most of all, it needs to remind the reader why life and living are precious. There should be some lessons learned, some perspectives changed and, to be perfect, it should have something to do with the natural world. Do you want to stretch out on your towel and imagine yourself in the stock exchange? Of course not! At any rate, a novel is coming out next month that will fit perfectly into this category. If you are looking for a new take on some traditional escapist fare, tuck a copy of Karen White’s The Sound of Glass into your beach tote,…
Life on the Gulf is hard. Follow your nose past the shiny hotels and condos that block up the view and look at the rest of the world. The ground is flat, the air is heavy and the heat will knock you stupid two-thirds of the year. The highways are lined with billboards advertising pain doctors, tourist traps and attorneys promising high settlements and cheap divorces. The scrub grows high and thick here. The trees you see are either young matchsticks with impossibly high trunks or old, gnarled things that have survived too many hurricanes to die. The people aren’t much different. For generations, they’ve lived by the Gulf, a few in financial comfort but most of them eaking out a living on hard work, low wages and luck that runs thin on the ground. They hold jobs without benefits, without paid vacation and without too much of a future. The life here already made these folks resourceful, tenacious, colorful and tough but right now life’s even harder than usual. The BP oil spill took a look at Gulf life and punched it right in the gut. Tom Cooper knows this and put the story of these folks in his…
You’re not supposed to re-read classics for pleasure, but I do. To me, that’s the real definition of classic: when something’s so good it transcends the first or second wave of popularity so people return to it year after year, seeing new ties and ideas with each re-reading. so their depth of appreciation grows with age. Anyone can read a book once and pronounce a judgment, good or bad. On the other hand, it takes an age to appreciate the depth in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. At least it requires an understanding of the Power of Two. In many ways, East of Eden is the story of two families, the Hamilton and the Trasks. The Hamiltons are the author’s own family, the maternal relatives he knew and heard about in family gatherings. The accounts of his grandfather’s gentleness, his grandmother’s fortitude and the bravery and sadness of their children were the first tales that stirred Steinbeck’s imagination and he wanted these stories immortalized. The Hamilton family tales are mixed in an earlier family saga, already known to most of the world. The Trasks are the first first family of all, and two sets of Trask brothers follow the biblical…