Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- September 2025 Snapshots
- Upcoming dates: Frankenstein
- Getting unstuck
- “Where am I coming from? Where am I going? A fusillade of question marks.” — Ciarán Carson
- Frankenstein coming to life …
- “I grew up believing that I was fundamentally powerless.” — Thom Yorke
- Frankenstein and Tiffany, part deux
- “I want to live, not pose!” — Carole Lombard
- “When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
- “If someone spends his life writing the truth without caring for the consequences, he inevitably becomes a political authority in a totalitarian regime.” — Václav Havel
Recent Comments
- sheila on Getting unstuck
- Daniel V. on Getting unstuck
- sheila on That’ll Learn Ya reunites
- joe franco on That’ll Learn Ya reunites
- sheila on “When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
- Kristen Westergaard on “When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
- sheila on Upcoming dates: Frankenstein
- Frances on Upcoming dates: Frankenstein
- sheila on Upcoming dates: Frankenstein
- sheila on Getting unstuck
- Frances on Upcoming dates: Frankenstein
- Walter Biggins on Getting unstuck
- Amir Lauber on All That Jazz: Remembering and Loving Erzebet Foldi
- sheila on “When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
- sheila on “When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
- Krsten Westergaard on “When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
- sheila on Premiere of Frankenstein official trailer!
- sheila on Premiere of Frankenstein official trailer!
- Sheila Welch on Premiere of Frankenstein official trailer!
- sheila on “I wish I had not been so reserved.” — Joseph Cornell’s final words
-
Tag Archives: Martha Graham
“To me, Martha Graham is one of America’s few authentic geniuses.” – Bette Davis
For Martha Graham’s Birthday: First: Joan Acocella wrote a wonderful profile of Graham for The New Yorker. I discussed it – and Graham – here. In researching this post, I came across a beautiful piece about the time Helen Keller … Continue reading
“Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
Joan Acocella, longtime dance critic for The New Yorker, and regular contributor to the New York Review of Books died in 2024 at the age of 78, and I did not mark her passing. It’s her birthday today. Acocella brought … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged ballet, Bob Fosse, dance, Dorothy Parker, essays, H.L. Mencken, Joan Acocella, Martha Graham, nonfiction, Nureyev, Primo Levi
2 Comments
My new column at Liberties magazine: First up: acting and film criticism and how the twain meet
I have some exciting (to me) news. I’ll be writing a regular column for Liberties – the website for the quarterly magazine – host to a daunting lineup of writers! I launched my column with a piece about being a … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, Personal, Theatre
Tagged Actors Studio, Hamlet, James Dean, Liberties, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Martha Graham
9 Comments
Angles and Archetypes: From Burt to Brando to Rourke to Jensen Ackles to Martha Graham to Hieroglyphs to Paul Le Mat
“Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.” — Frank Sinatra When Burt Reynolds died I wrote this whole thing about how he “worked his angles.” Like Tyra Banks tells you to do. Like all the great personae of yore knew … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, Television
Tagged Bette Davis, Burt Reynolds, James Dean, Jensen Ackles, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Martha Graham, Mickey Rourke, Supernatural
6 Comments
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘The Flame’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. Acocella’s 2002 essay ‘The Flame’, about modern dance pioneer Martha Graham, is both a profile of the artist (who was dead at the time of the writing), … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged dance, essays, Joan Acocella, Martha Graham, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
Leave a comment