John Lahr
John Lahr
John Henry Lahris a British-based American theater critic, and the son of actor Bert Lahr. Since 1992, he has been the senior drama critic at The New Yorker magazine. His books include Joy Rideand Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh...
business expression guide heart hollywood leave theater ultimate
It has the look of the avant-garde, but the heart of a Hollywood production. It's the ultimate expression of business art. ... You leave the theater and they guide you right into the store.
plays series six
At least six of the plays in Wilson's series are, I think, first rate, and one, 'Joe Turner's Come and Gone,' is a masterpiece.
fun father emotional
First and foremost, I'd say my father, Bert Lahr ... gave me a love of theatre--its kinetic and emotional potential and its raffish backstage fun--and also set an artistic example of the importance of corrupting an audience with pleasure.
mean writing self
Writers don't always know what they mean - that's why they write. Their work stands in for them. On the page, the reader meets the authoritative, perfected self; in life, the writer is lumbered with the uncertain, imperfect one.
criticism way emptiness
A cruel critic has never made anything; his glibness is a way of inflicting his emptiness on others.
risk criticism
Criticism is a life without risk.
powerful america political
Questions about political theatre always overlook America's most powerful and effective political theatre, which is always thriving: the American musical. The politics is conservative but, to my mind, effective and insidious.
night theatre firsts
The history of theatre is the history of first nights.
book taken hands
Most of the people dishing out judgment have no working experience of the theatre, have not written a professional play, a sketch, or even a joke; have never worked in a theatre, taken an acting class, or published any extended piece of work. They are creative virgins; everything they know about theatre is book-learned and second-hand.
dirty squares care
The pigeons are shitting on George M. Cohan. I shoo them off. They fly up and perch on his hat. Cohan would've never given his regards to Broadway if he saw how dirty they kept his statue in Duffy Square. New Yorkers walk right by. Nobody cares.
eggs long
His life was one long extravaganza, like living inside a Faberge egg.
entertainment
Entertainment is not politically neutral.
coward momentum exhilaration
Momentum was part of the exhilaration and the exhaustion of the twentieth century which Coward decoded for the British but borrowed wholesale from the Americans.
dimes existential changed
I know in an existential sense that life can change on a dime ... something has instantly and inexorably changed in American life.