tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post7979016372932395422..comments2024-01-07T06:59:04.212-05:00Comments on The Playgoer: Ranking GoodnessPlaygoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-66318935995945917812007-08-29T13:05:00.000-04:002007-08-29T13:05:00.000-04:00There's a great bit in the Harper's readings secti...There's a great bit in the Harper's readings section this month - Ursula K. Le Guin responding satirically to some idiotic thing a New Republic book critic said about Michael Chabon approaching genre litereature with ice tongs or some such: <BR/><BR/>http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/09/0081680Jason Grotehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14090513891475658978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-48229599200734454012007-08-29T12:58:00.000-04:002007-08-29T12:58:00.000-04:00What are all those people doing on the stage? Does...What are all those people doing on the stage? Doesn't Tracy Letts know that you can't have a cast that large and expect to get your play produced?<BR/>All kidding aside, Congrats to Tracy for getting this up, and with a wonderfully realized stage set, it appears to me. Can't wait to see this in NY.Kenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06062987385482820410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-80517057813303055472007-08-28T13:36:00.000-04:002007-08-28T13:36:00.000-04:00At the risk of defending The Ish (as Cote calls hi...At the risk of defending The Ish (as Cote calls him) I think what he was attempting to do, maybe in too many words, was to <I>call</I> the play a potboiler.<BR/><BR/>And I don't think there's any harm in that, or in his thinking that even a great potboiler is something short of "visionary."<BR/><BR/>Talking to people about BUG, a reaction I heard several times was, "a lot of fun, but not Great Theatre or anything." And these weren't nitpicky theatre-types. Just regular, amateur theatregoers. And I knew what they meant.<BR/><BR/>So based on that (and not having seen the new play) I can see where Isherwood might be coming from.<BR/><BR/>But I suspect that another factor at play, here, may be the critical thrashing Isherwood has received lately on the Sarah Ruhl front. Those clauses seem like a hedge, an attempt to insulate himself from the charge of having written yet another all-out rave.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-15781002010969079422007-08-28T12:14:00.000-04:002007-08-28T12:14:00.000-04:00Garrett - I saw August: Osage County a few weeks a...Garrett - I saw <B>August: Osage County</B> a few weeks ago and was blown away. It's the best new play I've seen in years. It's a modern masterpiece.Steve On Broadway (SOB)https://www.blogger.com/profile/04353077627991682499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-7733650004092196572007-08-28T11:28:00.000-04:002007-08-28T11:28:00.000-04:00From the Chicago critic Cote links to:"And, unlike...From the Chicago critic Cote links to:<BR/><BR/>"And, unlike many recent plays about death, it’s also not a limp-wristed rumination on loss, or a phony, MFA-minted take on family dysfunction. Defying the American playwriting model of the last decade, August: Osage County doesn’t try to guilt us into liking it. (Via Moises Kaufman alone, I’ve seen enough grief porn to last a lifetime.)"<BR/><BR/>"August: Osaghe County: NOT FAGGOT THEATRE!!! YEEEEEEE-HAWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com