Book Review: Wind/Pinball

(Borrowed from the Jackson Heights Library): I needed a short fast read and I haven't read a Murakami book in a while. This volume of two related novellas was on the shelf at the library and under 200 pages/ It's an early work and kind of intriguing, but it did not have an impact on me. Two friends hang out at a bar in a small waterfront town in Japan, drink beers, talk about pinball, eat french fries. They have relationships and get sad about life. 

My E-Mail to the Kennedy Center

Here's the contents of the email I sent to the PR dept, of the Kennedy (NOT TRUMP) Center: at publicrelations@kennedy-center.org.

Hi,

I am an American citizen writing to express my displeasure and outrage that the Kennedy Center board illegally voted to change the name of the venue to the Trump-Kennedy Center. (The president's ego is so colossal he wouldn't even take second billing.) The Center was created by Congress in 1964 as a memorial to the late President. My understanding is any name change would have to be enacted and approved by Congress. The board does not have the authority to make such a change. Plus the vote was apparently not unanimous because a board member who wished to voice her objections was muted.

This is obviously a ploy to placate Trump's enormous ego. Plummeting ticket sales and artist boycotts will get even worse over the next three years as no one of artistic integrity will want to associate themselves with the derangements of the Trump administration--tarriffs, deportations, cutting vital services, eliminating cancer research and USAid, weather services, eliminating Obamacare subsidies, lying about the 2020 election, pardoning drug lords and frauds. etc., etc. (Except for those sycophants who want a Kennedy Center Honor, a once sought-after accolade, now as worthless as a FIFA World Peace Prize.) For six decades, the Kennedy Center has stood above politics as a national shrine to the arts. All were welcome. Not anymore. If you disagree with him, you are not welcome. Once he leaves office, everything will revert back to an inclusive state. That is if the Center does not go bankrupt and collapse like everything else Trump touches.

Sincerely,

David Sheward

Jackson Heights, NY

Rob Reiner and Anthony Geary Die on the Same Day

Anthony Geary and Rob Reiner on
All in the Family (1971)

In a horrible coincidence, Rob Reiner and Anthony Geary died on the same day. Reiner, along with his wife, was murdered by his son and Geary passed away at 78 in Amsterdam where he had been living with his husband since he retired from acting in 2015. Reiner and Geary both appeared on a groundbreaking episode of the radical sitcom All in the Family in 1971. Geary, who would later go on to star in the long-running soap opera General Hospital, played Roger, an eccentric effeminate friend of Reiner's Mike and Sally Struthers' Gloria. Of course, Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) can't tolerate what he perceives as Roger's unmasculine and therefore gay behavior. After Roger has left Archie calls him a "strange little birdie," launching into a bigoted rant against gays. Mike and Gloria defend Roger and say he's just unconventional, but still straight. And Mike makes the outrageous-for-1971 claim that even if Roger IS attracted to his own gender and he does act differently, there's nothing wrong with that.   

The twist of the episode comes when it's revealed that Archie's macho, ex-football player buddy Steve is really gay, confounding the expectations of Archie and the audience. The episode pointed out the that the real fear was not of men being romantic with each other, but acting like "sissies." I wonder how Geary who actually was gay felt about portraying a character with stereotypical queer traits. (And then portraying a famously straight character Luke for decades, even marrying Laura in one of the most famous TV weddings ever. I was in college at the time and they even re-enacted the ceremony on campus with a fellow theatre student as the minister.)

I remember watching that All in the Family episode at 12 years old and not really understanding it. I laughed at Archie's excessive homophobia, not taking in it was directed at people like me. 

While Geary's passing seemed to be peaceful, Reiner's was horrific and made even more terrible by Trump's disgusting social media response. (I don't need to reprint it here.) The president is just a vile human being. What's even worse is that we have moved on from our outrage over his lack of empathy and dignity by one distraction after another. The very next day after Trump blamed Reiner for his own death, implying his anti-Trump sentiments drove someone to assassinate the director (incorrect, it was his own alienated son), the damning Vanity Fair article with WH Chief of Staff Susan Wiles appeared, then the libelous and partisan "Presidential Walk of Fame" with Trump's nasty comments on Biden and Obama, followed by the desperate prime-time address and the illegal renaming of the Kennedy Center. (BTW, Trump must have read my post from a few days ago where I said he never addresses the country on TV.)

It's as if Trump is piling on outrage after outrage so we're too overwhelmed to react. But at least this indicates he knows he can't run for a third term and therefore doesn't care what the electorate think of him.

B'way/Off-B'way Review: Marjorie Prime; Meet the Cartozians

Christopher Lowell and June Squibb in
Marjorie Prime.
Credit: Joan Marcus

When Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2015, the play was hailed as a complex, compassionate rumination on grief and memory (I concurred.) It also was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Set in the near future, the short, powerful work focuses on the effects of advanced technology on a family facing aging and loss. 

Marjorie is in her 80s. She relies on an android programmed to resemble a younger version of her late husband Walter for company, comfort and to help fortify her fading memory. The presence of the living computer causes rifts in Marjorie’s relations with her prickly, depressed daughter Tess and her understanding son-in-law Jon. Familial tensions and tragedies follow as Marjorie, Tess and Jon all must come to terms with loss. 

Danny Burstein and Cynthia Nixon
in Marjorie Prime.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Now a decade after the original NY production, a Broadway version presented by Second Stage at the Hayes Theater has an even deeper resonance. Artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived and the play is more immediate as the possibilities Harrison raises of duplicate departed loved ones come closer to reality. Memories become distorted when more palatable, idealized versions of the past are fed into the artificial beings’ software. For example, Marjorie and Walter’s proposal story is embellished from taking place after the couple went to the movies to see the silly comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding to the more romantic image of taking in the classic Casablanca at a charming indie theater. These distortions gradually become the accepted version as AI bots multiply and take over the flesh-and-blood characters’ shared narratives. Another theme becomes heartbreakingly clear as each member of the family must accept a death and turn to the AI-generated dopplegangers for consolation rather than facing the loved ones’ permanent absence. Harrison is examining our modern tendency to suppress our true emotions with fuzzy feel-good substitutes.  

Anne Kauffman repeats her directing chores from the 2015 production and delivers a subtly different, moving production, augmented by Daniel Kluger’s evocative original music. Lee Jellinek’s futuristic set perfectly blends the sterile scientific environment with subtle touches of a homey atmosphere. 

B'way Update: Beaches, A New Musical

Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett in
the Theater Calgary production of Beaches.
Credit: Trudie Lee

Beaches, A New Musical will begin previews at the Majestic Theater on March 27, 2026 and open on on April 22 for a limited run through Sept. 6 prior to its North American tour. Based on Iris Rainer Dart's novel of two lifelong friends, the show features a book by Dart and Thom Thomas, lyrics by Dart and music by Grammy winner Mike Stoller. Co-Directed by Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Lonny Price (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close) and Matt Cowart (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill – Assoc Dir), the Broadway premiere of the musical will star Jessica Vosk (Hell’s Kitchen, Wicked) and Kelli Barrett (FX TV's “Fosse/Verdon,” Parade), as best friends Cee Cee and Bertie, respectively. Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey starred in the 1988 film version.

B'way Update: Titanique To Sail Into the St. James

Marla Mindelle in
Titanique.
Credit: Chad David Kraus

Titanique, the spoofy Off-Broadway musical satirizing the Oscar-winning film will sail into the St. James Theater this spring, now that the present occupant The Queen of Versailles is closing early. Previews begin March 26, 2026 with an opening set for April 12. Co-creator Marla Mindelle (Sister Act, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Big Gay Jamoboree) is set to reprise her iconic, Lortel Award-winning turn as Céline Dion on Broadway – a role she originated Off-Broadway, where the musical played a record-breaking three-year run until June 2025. Co-creator Tye Blue (“RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Rumer Willis’ Over the Love Tour) will direct the Broadway production.

Co-written by Blue, Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli, the Olivier Award-winning musical comedy Titanique fuses a kooky crazy reimagining of the eleven-time Oscar®–winning Titanic from the perspective, and certified-platinum hits, of Céline Dion. The musical made its bow Off-Broadway in summer 2022 at The Asylum Theatre (also lovingly known as “the basement of a Gristedes"). After multiple sold-out extensions, and a move to a bigger boat at the above-ground Daryl Roth Theatre, Titanique became the most decorated Off-Broadway musical of its season – winning seven major awards, including the Lucille Lortel Award and Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical, a Las Culturistas Culture Award, and the Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Performer for Marla Mindelle. Concurrent with the Off-Broadway production’s three-year run, international productions opened in London’s West End, Sydney, Toronto, Montréal, Chicago, Paris, and São Paulo — each adding to the show’s global acclaim and momentum. In 2025, Titanique won the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy. Additional casting for the Broadway production will be announced at a later date.

Book Review: Dorothy Parker in Hollywood

(Bought at the Strand for $10):  Gail Crowther's account of the sharp-tongued but ultimately tragic writer Dorothy Parker's sojourn in La La Land is entertaining but doesn't tell us much more than the many other Parker bios. Parker's devastating wit is not on display as much as her messy personal life. She was an alcoholic and couldn't manage her money even though she was one of the highest paid screenwriters in the studio system. Both she and her husband and writing partner Alan Campbell were equally clumsy at living as adults, both chronic alcoholics. She lacked self-confidence despite her sparkling intelligence and way with words. Crowther does capture her struggle to overcome sexism in a male dominated industry and offers some new insights into the chaotic, confusing manner scripts were fashioned in the Dream Factory.