Divamensch

Sam I and I saw the London National Theatre’s Hamlet at BAM on May 2, 2026. The production was directed by Robert Hastie, best known right now for directing Operation Mincemeat on Broadway (which neither of us has seen, and Sam sees a lot). It was advertised as a “witty, fearlessly contemporary take” on the play. Mincemeat has a reputation of being manic and madcap so I was curious to see how that sensibility would work with Shakespeare’s tragedy. It worked very well! I often

Let's have another Friday with another glimpse of Miss Channing, shall we? She hit the big time playing Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She tore up the joint, was the toast of the town, her career was secured with that role. The original lyrics were changed for the movie, they were too darn racy! In the movie they sing: Then someone broke my heart in Little Rock So I up and left the pieces there Like a little lost lamb I roamed about I came to New York and I found ou

The winner for Best Play at the 1968 Tonys was Tom Stoppard's Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Another nominee was Arthur Miller's The Price. I know the Stoppard play a bit - - I read it back in the day and also saw the movie, directed by Stoppard himself. It's a total Diva play, full of clever wordplay and show off moments, for the actors but mostly for the writer. I don't know The Price but the Wikipedia description reeks of Mensch: "It is about family dynamics, the pr

I love that my brother Howard alerts me to the deaths of people of whom I've not heard. See how deftly I avoided ending that sentence with a preposition? Nedra Talley Ross was a founding member and the last surviving member of The Ronettes. Ronnie Spector got all the press for that group and as lead singer I guess that makes sense but there were two other girls in the group! They might not have had as distinctive a voice as Spector, they might not have had the drive and the c

Jere, Dale, and I heard Barbara Hannigan with the New York Philharmonic on consecutive evenings in late April 2026. They heard the concert on Friday April 24, 2026 - - they texted me as they were leaving and said I absolutely had to buy a ticket for the next night. This is what Jere said in his text: “OMG. We just came out of the NY Phil with Barbara Hannigan singing the Poulenc La Voix Humaine. You must get a ticket for tomorrow night. Unbelievable. Run don’t walk. We both t

I heard Voices of Ascension in a concert called "Masters of the Renaissance: The Netherlands School" on April 23, 2026. I've been going to V of A concerts at least once a year since around 2003. They're a professional chorus based at the Church of the Ascension in Greenwich Village. They're astonishingly good - - their artistic director and conductor Dennis Keene does a genius job at programming, selecting the singers, and bringing out the glories of the music. They have the

Karen, Susan, and I saw Innocence at the Met on April 22, 2026. It's a new opera from 2021 by Kaija Saariaho on a libretto by Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière. This was Saariaho's last opera, she died in 2023. The Met did her first opera, L'Amour de Loin, in 2016, that was stunning. Innocence was more ambitious and a deeper, more impactful experience. It's the story of a school shooting and its impact on the family of the shooter, the community, and the victims themselves. I

Last week was the end of my Rock and Roll Woman series. Now I'm back on my regular Fabulous Friday diet of kitsch and krap! I recently discovered this fab number from some television variety show. Is that Dean Martin I spy at the end, on the motorcycle? We have Carol Channing and Tommy Tune doing a number from Mame - - the needle on the Swish-o-Meter done busted off! Miss Channing's dress is so short, if it weren't for those tights she'd be showing us the good china. Let's ta

I read in The New York Times about the death of Alan Osmond (age 76), the eldest of the Osmond Brothers group (he had two other brothers who were hearing impaired). The Osmonds were Donny and Marie, to me as a kid, but I've discovered a bit of the Osmond Brothers thanks to YouTube. They got their big break on The Andy Williams Show - - here they are doing "Jingle Jangle Jingle," with a semi-surprise appearance by little Donny. They're a little frightening, am I wrong? I also

The winner of Best Play in 1967 was The Homecoming by Harold Pinter. One of the other nominees was A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee. Diva: The Homecoming Mensch: A Delicate Balance Both plays are demanding and unsettling but A Delicate Balance is couched in the framework of a cozy New England upper-middle-class family home. The Homecoming is far from cozy. Those people seem dangerous, you're on the edge of your seat because anything could happen. Here are Ian Holm and Vivie

Ben and I heard the Shanghai Quartet at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on April 19, 2026. There were four pieces on the program: Haydn, Dun, Gershwin, and Dvořák. They opened with the Haydn quartet in G minor, "The Rider." The first movement was elegant with a spring in its step. There were two highlights in the second movement - - it was a joy to hear Haydn develop his musical ideas and the first violinist had some charming moments of display. The final movement bri

Karen and I saw *Death of a Salesman* on Broadway on April 16, 2026. I had never seen the play onstage and knew that a production starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf directed by Joe Mantello would be brilliant. It was even more extraordinary than I expected. Lane was devastating as Willy Loman. He's known for his wacky scenery-chewing roles in *The Birdcage* and *The Producers* but having seen him in O'Neill's *The Iceman Cometh* back in 2015 I knew that he'd have the dep

I'm ending my Rock and Roll Woman tribute with my favorite rock singer, Annie Lennox. I was in high school when The Eurythmics hit the scene and I went nutty for them, like I had never gone for a contemporary rock group. I had their albums on LP and listened to them often. I was even a member of the Eurythmics Fan Club! I saw them at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI in the summer of 1986, my first rock concert ever. I was mostly into classical music and Broadway original cast

I heard Jordi Savall at Carnegie Hall on Apr 14, 2026. I’d never heard of him but my friend Stephanie had bought a ticket, ended up being out of town, and gave me her ticket. Thank you Stephanie, the concert was sensational! My friend Bill tells me that Savall was one of the people most responsible for what we call early music having a place in concert stages and recordings. He trained as a viola da gamba player (that’s a precursor to a cello) and formed an early music ensemb

Richard Kiley won the 1966 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. One of the other nominees as John Cullum as a psychiatrist in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Diva: Quixote Mensch: shrink Quixote is crazy man crazy, off the rails, coo coo for Cocoa Puffs. And what could be more of a diva moment than "The Impossible Freaking Dream"? Dr. Mark Bruckner, on the other hand, is a nice guy. He's the leading man, yes, but he's

Don't you love how my brother Howard expands my horizons? All the way from Julie London to Yanka Rupkina - - Rupkina died a few days ago at the age of 87. She was part of Trio Bulgarka which was featured on an offbeat surprise hit set of records called Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares. I had two tapes back in the 80s. Howard said "she was cool af" and said "those harmonies SHIMMER." Their sound is unlike anything I've heard - - rapturously beautiful but also somewhat harsh and c

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