Divamensch

I love Chrissie Hynde's voice but is it wrong that I love her hair and makeup even more...? The bangs and the heavy eyeliner totally send me. I didn't know girls like this in high school but I WANTED to. Her voice is like her look - - not pretty but utterly distinctive, memorable, and appealing. This is my favorite Pretenders song: Here's my favorite Hynde moment, performing with my beloved Burt in a 1990s tribute to him. Baby, it's YOU!

I heard a program of Poulenc and Sondheim at the New York Festival of Song on April 7, 2026. I had heard maybe only one or two concerts by NYFOS - - they're on my radar but not at the front of my mind. Alex Ross wrote a rave in The New Yorker of a recent concert of theirs and I decided to check out what else they were doing this season. Turns out they were doing a concert of songs by Francis Poulenc and Stephen Sondheim. Totally my jam. You probably know Stephen Sondheim - -

Liza Minnelli won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical in 1965 for her Broadway debut in Flora the Red Menace, a show that didn't really have legs, hasn't hardly been done since its initial run. But Liza was supposed to be tremendous! Diva: Liza winning the Tony Mensch: no other nominations for the show

I saw Bughouse at the Vineyard Theatre on April 4, 2026. It’s a new play about Henry Darger, conceived and directed by Martha Clarke on a script by Beth Henley, adapted from Darger’s writings. Darger is the first person I heard referred to as an “outsider artist.” He worked as a janitor and dishwasher in a hospital outside of Chicago. He lived in a boarding house - - his two-room apartment was cleared out shortly before his death and what was found there boggled the imaginat

Stephanie and I heard the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on March 31, 2026. They were conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Marin Alsop. I've heard her a few times, she's amazing and lots of fun to watch. They opened with the New York premiere of a piece by John Adams co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Rock You Stand On. We weren't wild for it. It had a promising start, with sections of the orchestra giving little outbursts - - the strings answered by the brass,

We're close to closing out our Fabulous Friday tribute to Rock-and-Roll Woman: The 50 Fiercest Female Rockers  by Meredith Ochs. Many of the women and bands on the list were new to me - - one of those was Sleater-Kinney. The one factoid that stood out for me was this: their first album was 22 minutes and 45 seconds long. I bet Iron Butterfly did a SONG that was that long! Jeez, that is so punk rock. I found this NPR Little Desk Concert on YouTube. I love the breezy yet gritty

Donna and I heard ECCO (the East Coast Chamber Orchestra) at Music Mondays on March 30, 2026. They're a group of string players who perform without a conductor. I'd seen them at least twice before, they're amazing. This concert had contemporary pieces on the first half and a 19th century piece on the second half. They started with "String," a concerto for orchestra by Jennifer Higdon. A nice mix of pizzicato and arco (playing with the bow). There were a number of satisfying m

We had two amazing British actors nominated for Best Actor in a Play in 1964: Diva: Richard Burton as Hamlet Mensch: Alec Guinness as Dylan Thomas I was surprised to see that Guinness was the winner! Burton certainly was a bigger star but Tony doesn't always kowtow to stars. Tony might even have a problem with stars...

I was saddened to get a text from my brother Howard alerting me to the death of Mary Beth Hurt. She was a wonderful young character actress at her peak in the 70s and 80s. I immediately thought of her in Woody Allen's first drama, Interiors (1978), and a creepy little dark comedy called Parents (1989). I just looked it up, that movie was directed by Bob Freaking Balaban! No wonder it's so weird. Interiors was her first movie, Allen had seen her in a play in New York. Here's

My brother Howard alerted me to the death of Chip Taylor, age 86. Say it with me: who the hell is Chip Taylor? He was a songwriter and the brother of Jon Voight (and therefore the uncle of Angelina Jolie). He wrote two major hits - - "Wild Thing" was a number one hit for The Troggs in 1966: He wrote "Angel of the Morning" in 1967. It was recorded by a few people and reached the top ten in a 1968 recording by Merrilee Rush and The Turnabouts (never heard of them either). I kno

Dash Crofts died the other day at the age of 87. You might not recognize his name but might have heard of his band, Seals and Crofts, and almost certainly have heard their best-known song, "Summer Breeze": I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this song has one of my favorite bridges ever - - "and I come home from a long day's work..." It happens around 1:55. It seamlessly launches the song into a new energized groove and just as easily wanders away from that back to its mellow

I know they sang "Manic Monday" but i don't like that song so I'm going to pretend their only hit was "Walk Like An Egyptian"! That would be enough for me. I remember being at The Cardinal Bar in Madison sometime in the late 90s. Maybe it was with Mary Jezl? Anyone remember Mary Jezl? They played "Walk Like An Egyptian" and the dance floor was instantly crowded with everyone in the club. We all sang "OH WAY OH!" and "WAY OH WAY OH, WAY OH WAY OH!" every time they happened, us

Edward Albee had a great year at the Tonys in 1963 - - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won Best Play, Best Producer, Best Director, and the two leading best performance awards. They're my focus this week: Diva: Uta Hagen as Martha Mensch: Arthur Hill as George Uta Hagen's character, Martha, is all Id - - scary temper, foul mouth, a house on fire. A whole city block on fire, actually. Her husband, George, is cool and calculating. He's playing chess with the other three charac

I was saddened to read in The New York Times about the death of Valerie Perrine, age 82. She was at her career peak in the 70s. And what a wacky career - - 1962: quit college to become a showgirl in Vegas at the age of 19 1971: was spotted by an agent and cast in her first movie, as an adult film star in Slaughterhouse Five 1974: played Lenny Bruce's former stripper wife in Bob Fosse's Lenny, won Best Actress at Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar 1978: played Lex Luthor's

What an unlikely trio. First, my favorite of the three, Nicholas Brendon, who was only 54. Am I already, at 58, the age where I’m reading the obits of people younger than me? I loved Brendon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, really and truly one of the greatest TV shows of all time. He was goofy but still sweet and SO CUTE. He shows up near the end of this clip and delivers one of my favorite lines of the whole series: Robert Mueller, anyone? Died at 81. Am I alone thinking he wa

I had a low key admiration for Cyndi Lauper - - I liked her style and her attitude more than her music. But then I saw her open for Cher in Madison on Cher's Believe Tour sometime around 1999. Cher gave the impression that she could be anywhere, I felt very little engagement in the performance from her, let alone engagement with the audience. Lauper, on the other hand, was totally tapped in and spoke about how much she liked spending the day in Madison, walking down State Str

TOP FIVE Sinners Weapons La Grazia Sentimental Value The Secret Agent Honorable Mention: Blue Moon, The History of Sound, Bugonia SINNERS This is the fifth film directed by Ryan Coogler and the fifth to star Michael B. Jordan. Jordan plays identical twins in this movie, and with him being one of the handsomest men on earth and all, what a treat to have twice as much screen time looking at him. But in addition to that he gives an impressive couple of performances. He different

Charles Nelson Reilly got the 1962 Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Reilly was a diva around the the clock, to be sure. Orson Bean was another nominee in that category. His character was such a mensch that he's not even mentioned in the Wikipedia synopsis! That's understated in the extreme. Diva: Nelson Reilly Mensch: Bean Here's Nelson Reilly with Claudette Sutherland. I'm glad MY office environment isn't like t

Liz and I heard a concert performance of Handel's Hercules at Carnegie Hall on Mar 16, 2026. It presented by Harry Bicket and The English Concert, his period instrument chamber orchestra. They come to Carnegie Hall about once a year for a concert performance of a Handel opera or oratorio. I've heard these: Orlando , Mar 2016 Semele, Apr 2019 Handel is a master of variety and dramatic expression within the context of the pretty rigid confines of the forms of his time. I said

Stephanie and I saw Tristan und Isolde at the Met on Mar 13, 2026. It's a new production directed by Yuval Sharon in his Met debut. He's directing Wagner's four-opera Ring Cycle starting in the 2027-28 season so this was an enticing taste of what he might do with that. I was amazed, it was one of the most beautiful and definitely the most thoughtful production I've seen at the Met. It's a measure of how long I've lived in New York (23.5 years) - - this is my third production