'Man and Superman,' first performed in 1905, is by common consent one of George Bernard Shaw's greatest and most significant plays, yet hardly anybody performs it today, for the understandable reason that an uncut performance runs for about five hours. Terry Teachout bernardcommonconsent share on social
No cowboy songs, no hoedowns. It's a more serious piece. Yet every bar of 'Appalachian Spring' is clear, clean, tonal, intelligible - great music that anyone can grasp at first hearing. Terry Teachout appalachianbarclean Change image and share on social
Tom Stoppard, the English-speaking world's brainiest playwright, thinks that British audiences have grown too dumb to understand his plays. Terry Teachout audiencebrainybritish Change image and share on social
For my part, I like live theater best when it's taut, concentrated and intimate. Terry Teachout concentrateintimatelive Change image and share on social
Few of us boggle - though we should - at the fact that Louis Armstrong sang and played trumpet with similar panache, or that Leonard Bernstein and Benjamin Britten were equally adept as composers, conductors and pianists. Terry Teachout adeptarmstrongbenjamin share on social
One reason why Shakespeare's plays remain so popular is that they're now regularly presented in updated stagings with a contemporary flavor. Terry Teachout contemporaryflavorplay Change image and share on social
The smaller newspapers probably won't have any critics at all. Maybe that's not such a bad thing because there's a certain level of seriousness that you can't get with a small newspaper for critics. Terry Teachout badcriticlevel Change image and share on social
Maine likes to call itself 'America's Vacationland.' For many artists, though, it's the office. Since the 19th century, painters from all over the country - including Edward Hopper, Alex Katz, John Marin, Fairfield Porter, Neil Welliver and Andrew Wyeth - have spent large chunks of time there. Terry Teachout 19thalexamerica share on social
Americans of all ages embraced TV unhesitatingly. They felt no loyalty to network radio, the medium that had entertained and informed them for a quarter-century. When something came along that they deemed superior, they switched off their radios without a second thought. Terry Teachout ageamericancentury share on social
Instrumental music is nonverbal and thus radically ambiguous. It doesn't lend itself to what might be called content-oriented analysis, though plenty of intellectuals have tried to analyze it in precisely that way. Terry Teachout ambiguousanalysisanalyze share on social