Divamensch

Barbara and I heard the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center an all-Shostakovich program on Feb 1, 2026. I’ve always loved Shostakovich and clearly need to do a deeper exploration of his music. This was all new music to me and it knocked me out. The first piece was the one I thought I knew - - a Shostakovich piano trio. It turns out it wasn’t the famous trio but an early trio, written when he was sixteen! It had many of the distinguishing characteristics of a Shostakovich

I think I might have said early in this process that it's lazy to choose the Best Musical as the Diva and the Best Play as the Mensch but those archetypes were so profoundly illustrated in 1956, I can't resist: Diva: Damn Yankees Mensch: The Diary of Anne Frank This number is pretty dopey but the dancing is so great. And how can you top Fosse and Verdon? I wasn't able to find any footage of the original Broadway cast of Anne Frank on YouTube but would you believe they have t