Jeremy Gerard

Do selfies celebrate our individual selves — or remind us of our own insignificance?

A few days ago, Anne Hathaway posted two selfies from her bed. In the first photo, she looks sleepy and perfectly tousled. In the second, her likeness has been sculpted into the dollop of steamed milk atop her morning latte. Alert the media! Too…

In Louisville There Once Was a Festival

You’ve probably never heard of Chug, arguably the least celebrated among the hundreds of works on offer over the decades at the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. Believe me, there’s no shortage of competition. Nevertheless, of Ken…

Stephen Sondheim's art wasn't easy. It wasn't meant to be

Once, yes, once for a lark.Twice, though, loses the spark.As I said to the Abbot,“I’ll get in the habitBut not in the habit.”You’ve my highest regard,And I know that it’s hard–Still, no matter the vice,I never do anything twice. Call me heretic, but…

Woodie King Jr. finally gets a Tony Award for bringing color to the stage

Woodie King Jr. always had a gift for teasing talent from unconventional sources. One young playwright was minister of culture for the Black Panther Party. Another had an idea for a dance drama about the Chinese laborers who lay track for the…

Guy Davis tricks the devil

blues The blues musician releases his most political album, ‘Be Ready When I Call You’ Another bluesman might have demurred, but Guy Davis had no hesitation about doffing his cap and shades. We crossed an empty street and leaned over toward the…

MIKE NICHOLS: A LIFE

Even when he was on top of the world, Mike Nichols was convinced that his fame, his fortune, his worldly goods and starry friends could disappear at any time, and it made him mad. He was the accidental tsurist. “I’m…

Tom Stoppard: A Life

George C. Wolfe’s appropriation blues

Theater The director of the film adaptation of ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ has been tripping cultural land mines for decades Let’s get right to it. I’m going to reveal the ending of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Before I do, I urge you to find Netflix and…

George C. Wolfe’s appropriation blues

Since the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, there have been statements from white people across the political spectrum, including President-elect Joe Biden, that repeat variations of the same refrain: This is not who we are. I’ve long…

Remembering What America Might Have Been

The coronavirus epidemic will have a lasting worldwide impact, to be sure, but it will have a unique native social impact as well, one equal to those brought about by the upheavals of the 1960s and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Already it’s changed the…

A paean to camp: ‘I was a NFTY kid’

Hagigah brain trust: The author’s father, Dr. Bert S. Gerard (left), Rabbi Lewis ‘Buz’ Bogage, and staff member Jane Hagerty, at Kutz Camp, 1967. Image by Courtesy of Jeremy Gerard I am watching faded, ghostly but joyously animated images on my…

America Doesn't Work, And Hasn't For A Long Time

The coronavirus epidemic will have a lasting worldwide impact, to be sure, but it will have a unique native social impact as well, one equal to those brought about by the upheavals of the 1960s and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Already it’s changed the…

Wynn Handman, Unflappable Off-Broadway Champion

Let’s agree that Sam Shepard was a pain in the ass. Don’t take my word for it. “I was a belligerent asshole back then,” Sam once told me. “Really,” he continued, giving me a glacier-blue stare. “I mean I was really not a pleasant person to be…

Wynn Handman, co-founder of the American Place Theatre, dies at 97

Wynn Handman, a revered acting teacher whose Off-Broadway company, The American Place Theatre, defied Broadway commercialism while providing early support to many of the country’s most talented writers, actors, directors and designers, died in the…

Opinion: It’s time for critics to step in

“Crrrritic!” Estragon sneers as the trumping put-down in the battery of insults he trades with Vladimir in “Waiting for Godot.” You might say that for theater critics, it’s been downhill ever since. And when are critics not crrrritics? That’s easy:…

Broadway community pays tribute to composer Jerry Herman

“Kid, the show is yours.” The words were recalled, not sung at Monday afternoon’s tribute to the late Jerry Herman. And while they may lack the urgent iambic promise of “You charm the husk right off of the corn,” they were once spoken by the producer…

Broadway pays tribute to Hal Prince

“I live for the next musical. I live in the future. I’m totally mindful that nobody will ever have the life I’ve had in the theater. That’s past. And that’s damned sad.” Harold Prince once spoke those words and none were ever so true. Living for the…

Opinion: ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ sticks to its Off-Broadway roots

For a typical producer, the phrase “somewhere that’s green” — to quote one of the best-known ballads from “Little Shop of Horrors” — refers to one place, and one place only: Broadway. If a producer is lucky enough to have the (admittedly rare)…

Opinion: The indomitable legacy of Hal Prince

The Prince is dead, long live the King. Is that too glib? Perhaps, yet it is no overstatement. Hal Prince is gone, and with him passes not just an era but several eras in the crazy, complicated quilt of the Broadway musical. Take Hal Prince out of…

Opinion: Publicizing goats, puppets and Founding Fathers on Broadway

Some shows pose a greater challenge to a press agent than your run-of-the-mill Broadway musical or boulevard comedy. One might feature copulating puppets with an irrepressible urge to sing, for example; another might focus on a successful architect…