Was: The Musical

From Paul Simpson’s A Brief Guide to OZ :

Was has been brought to the stage in two different versions. Paul Edwards penned a version for Northwestern university in 1994, which he intitially intended as a staged reading of various chapters. As he worked on it, he realize the potential for a small chamber-theatre piece, which was subsequently put on, directed by Edwards himself, in Chicago. Given that many authors complain about the liberties that are taken with their text in adaptations for other media, Ryman found that this version was too faithful to his story. In a 2001 interview, with the British Science Fiction Association, he explained that it ‘was very educational because it was terrible’ — not because of the acting, but because they tried to jam four hundred pages of text into two hours on stage. He wouldn’t allow further productions, despite the Chicago Reader calling Edwards’ interprestation ‘a jewel on the stage as on the page, a beautifully blanaced work of brain, courage, and heart’.

A musical version, with a book by Barry Kleinbort and score by Joseph Thalken, was workshopped at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York, and subsequently mounted at the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio; and then by Northwestern University’s American Music Theatre Project in 2005. This eliminated the Judy Garland plotline from the book entirely. Kleinbort and Thalken had both been taken with the book, and wrote twenty minutes of material that they performed for Ryman in 1998. He gave them permission to proceed, and the show received various awards for excellence in music theatre.

There must be snippets on YouTube or somewhere (over the rainbow?) but I can't find them. Help!

A View of Forster's Homosexuality

I’ve just finished reading Artic Summer Damon Galgut’s thoroughly researched book on E.M. Forster and his pursuit of love in England, Egypt, and India. He is particularly vivid in portraying Forster’s several visits to India, including his time as the Private Secretary of the Maharajah of Dewas where he engaged in an affair with a young barber. (Needless to say, no mention is made of this in Hill of Devi, the novel he wrote about his time with the maharajah.)  His three year period in Egypt with the Red Cross (1915-18) is less successful, despite his well-known friendships with Cavafy and Muhammad al-Adl whose portrayals – to me, at least – seem stiff and unrealistic. However, I have not seen Forster’s correspondence with either. The book is available in paperback from Europa editions. It received numerous and highly (too?) favorable reviews in the Guardian, the NY Times, and the
Washington Post when it was first published in 2014.

"Persistent Voices" lives up to its name

Once I made it through the Oscars coverage in today's Style section of the Washington Post, I found a dance review by Celia Wren of what sounds like a fascinating multimedia performance by Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company. Presented this past Saturday as part of the Atlas Intersections Festival, it was inspired by the anthology Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS--which was co-edited by none other than our very own Philip Clark!  (We read it as one of our third-Wednesday books during 2010 and 2011.)

The good news is that the piece will be repeated at 1:30 p.m. this coming Saturday, March 5, at the Atlas Theater (1333 H St. NE).  I plan to attend and hope to see some of you there!

The James Family Closet

Colm Toibin on Henry James is always interesting to read. Here's a new article in the Guardian on his family's attempt to keep him in the closet.

Carl Phillips

—a worthy addition to our list: Whitman, Houseman, Cavafy, Seth, Gunn, Crane, Merill, Ginsberg, Schneiderman, O'Hara, Bidart …

I hope readers will give him a chance.

"Silverchest" Links

Carl Phillips' 2013 poetry collection, Silverchest, which we'll be discussing on Feb. 17, can most certainly stand on its own without any critical apparatus.  That said, reading this slender volume (and rereading it) only whetted my appetite to learn more about the poet and his work, so here are a few links for your consideration.

To hear Phillips read the title poem in the collection  

To visit the poet's faculty page (Washington University in St. Louis)

To read a New Yorker review

To read a Lambda Literary review

Glass Menage @ Ford's

From John —

The production of The Glass Menagerie at Ford's Theatre is superb. At the Super Bowl Sunday matinee it got a well-deserved standing ovation. Strong performances by all four actors, including Madeleine Potter as Amanda. Unobtrusive, effective staging. Very interesting to see after our discussions of Williams. The play runs through February 21.

The program advertises two other local Williams productions this spring:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Round House Theatre, March 30-April 24
A Streetcar Named Desire at Everyman Theatre (Baltimore), April 13-June 12.