Author Archives: Christopher Arnott
Emery Battis R.I.P.
Regional theater actor extraordinaire Emery Battis died this week in Massachusetts at the age of 96. He’d already been performing for over 30 years when the regional theater movement took hold in the late 1960s. Then he really got busy. New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre kept him active for over a decade, often in in … Continue reading
Feste, Do Your Stuff!
So how’d that eleventh-hour crisis at Twelfth Night turn out? Darius De Haas, who’d been parading about the stage, and apparently into the audience as well, during the preview performances as Feste, injured his Achilles tendon Thursday night. (Yo, wrong Shakespeare play! Achilles is in Troilus and Cressida!) De Haas was able to remain with … Continue reading
Lenny Bruce’s Rock Song Legacy
On Oct. 13, had he lived, Lenny Bruce would have turned 86 years old. You could joke about the very idea of him ever living that long, but the fact remains that there was nothing at all funny about him dying at age 40 in 1966. Lenny Bruce’s preferred music was jazz, though in the … Continue reading
Sir, no; his indignation derives itself out of a very competent injury
All I know is what they said in a press release issued late this afternoon: Due to a serious injury to an actor, Westport Country Playhouse has canceled tonight’s performance (Friday, October 14th) of Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Patrons holding tickets are asked to please contact the Playhouse Box Office at 203-227-4177 to … Continue reading
Krappy Seats
Tickets go on on sale tomorrow, Oct. 15, for the Long Wharf presentation of Jennifer Tarver’s production of Brian Dennehy’s rendition of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. (Forgive me; I wanted to see how many apostrophes I could squeeze in there.) Long Wharf subscribers, don’t get complacent. Krapp’s Last Tape isn’t part of the regular … Continue reading
Birds of a Feather
The Yale Rep season-opening production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters closed last weekend, but the chilly autumnal feel of its poster design persists downtown. I took these photos of the window display at the English Building Market, the antiques and architecture enterprise at 839 Chapel St., just a few blocks from the Rep. The shared red-and-black … Continue reading
Tempest in a Three-Book
Prospero Regained—The Stunning Conclusion of Prospero’s Daughter By L. Jagi Lamplighter The third 500-page volume in a trilogy which takes the characters in Shakespeare’s The Tempest a lot more seriously than Shakespeare ever did. Lamplighter has grown a whole mythology around Miranda and her siblings. Siblings? Yes, Prospero’s been busy—or just bored since he’s apparently … Continue reading
Edelstein, Idolized: Last Monday’s Celebration of Gordon Edelstein’s First Decade as Artistic Director of Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf celebrated the glorious middle last Monday night. Tricks in My Pocket … Things Up My Sleeve was a catered feast in honor of Gordon Edelstein’s first decade as the theater’s artistic director. This wasn’t a climax, some “farewell” or “new beginnings” affair. Honored speaker after honored speaker wished Edelstein many more years in … Continue reading