Now I'm Getting Scared; VP Race

Trump on Fri. Night in West Palm Beach, FL: “Christians, get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed! It’ll be fine! You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians! I’m a Christian”

What is he even talking about? What will be "fixed"? His campaign put out a cryptic explanation that he was talking about "uniting the country." It sounds like he means once he's president again, he intends to stay president forever like his pals Putin, Kim Jong Un, Duarte, and Orban. They aren't even saying he was joking anymore.

Rachel Maddow and Tony Kushner,
because I didn't want to run
another picture of Trump.

Now I'm getting scared. On a long drive to Cooperstown this weekend, we listened to Season Two of Rachel Maddow's Ultra podcast about previous right-wing conspiracies to take over our small "d" democratic government. In a conversation with Tony Kushner, who is working on a screenplay based on Season One for Steven Spielberg, Maddow outlined historic earlier successful takeovers of democratic governments in Europe. She explained that the stages are gradual and subtle. First you make formerly outrageous behavior and speech part of the mainstream (like saying there are "good people" of both sides of fascism and anti-fascism.) Then you assume power in a normal, democratic way (like by running as a Republican rather than as a member of the Hitler Youth Party). Once you are in power, you change the institutions of government to suit your own ends and then it's too late to change them back to democratic ones. She cited Mussolini and Hitler being elected before they took over and being handed more power by the King of Italy and the Weimar government respectively. We are already in the second stage and Trump is sowing doubt about our institutions among his followers. The Congress can't be trusted. The courts can't be trusted. I alone can fix it, he says. That's why I'm scared. Trump is saying the quiet part out loud. I never thought he would succeed in circumventing the Constitution, but these recent remarks indicate that's what he wants.

B'way Update: 12th Night, Last Five Years, Etc.

Peter Dinklage, Lupita Nyong'o, 
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Sandra Oh
will star in Twelfth Night next summer.

Initial casting has been announced for the Public Theater's Summer 2025 production of Twelfth Night at the newly renovated Delacorte Theater in Central Park. (The theater is closed this summer as the upgrades are in progress.) The company will be headed by Emmy winner Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) as Malvolio, Tony winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family, Take Me Out) as Sir Andrew Agucheek, Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o (Twelve Years a Slave) as Viola and Golden Globe and SAG Award winner Sandra Oh (Killing Eve). 

"Twelfth Night is the epitome of joy," said director of the upcoming production and Public Theater Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director Saheem Ali. "It also happens to be the first production I ever saw at The Delacorte, as a college student taking the Chinatown bus from Boston. I'm delighted to be reuniting with my dear friend Lupita Nyong'o, joined by fellow Public Theater alums Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Sandra Oh. Free Shakespeare in the Park is a gift to our city. I'm honored to be helming this production as we reopen The Delacorte after an extensive and essential revitalization."

This will be the seventh production of Twelfth Night presented by the Public in Central Park. Previous revivals were seen in 1969 (directed by founder Joseph Papp), 1986, 1989, 2002, 2009, and a musical adaptation for Public Works in 2018. 

Kamala to the Rescue?

The Prosecutor Vs. The Felon

Joe Biden's dropping out of the 2024 Presidential race was the right thing to do. If he had stayed in it would have resulted in a devastating and embarrassing defeat and a tyrannical shift to the right. The Senate and the House could have gone to the Republicans and even more right-leaning judges would have left an indelible mark on the courts, further eroding reproductive, marriage equality and LGBTQ rights. I was sitting in a restaurant on Sunday afternoon with my friend Diane eating a veggie burger when the news of Biden's decision broke. Team Trump and many in the mass media were expecting chaos to ensue. They thought there would a scramble to replace Biden since there would be objections to Harris taking the top slot because her gender and race would not make her the perfect candidate. 

But within 24 hours, Harris had smashed records in fund raising and volunteers, acquired the endorsements of almost every major Democratic leader and most of the delegates necessary to cop the nomination at the convention. Joe Manchin made brief noises about maybe being interested in challenging her, but that was shot down quickly. 

The burst of enthusiasm is due to the huge relief Dems and progressives felt after being saved from a disaster by Biden's selfless stepping aside. A blue win is by no mean a slam dunk, but at least now there is a chance we can win. Harris can benefit from the shake-up because of the double-haters--voters who despise both previous candidates. Ironically Nikki Haley made a Cassandra-like prediction during the Republican primary by saying whichever side retired their 80-year-old candidate first would be the winner. (I hope she's right.) In a further ironic side note, Republicans who hate Trump have formed a PAC called Haley Voters for Harris. Haley has issued a Cease and Desist Order to change the name since she is for Trump (like the toady she is.) The PAC has responded that they are not speaking for Haley so they shouldn't have to change their name. We'll see how that shakes out.

The 13th David Desk Awards

It's time for the annual David Desk Awards based on all theater I saw during the 2023-24 Broadway and Off-Broadway theater season. I missed last year because of work commitments. Merrily We Roll Along is included because I missed it Off-Broadway during 2022-23. Suffs is counted as a new musical since Shaina Taub has extensively revised it since its Off-Broadway production in 2022. All of those listed are winners in my book.

Outstanding Play:

Jim Parson, Jessica Lange and 
Celia Keenan-Bolger in Mother Play
Credit: Joan Marcus

The Comeuppance (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins)
Corruption (J.T. Rogers)
Infinite Life (Annie Baker)
Mother Play (Paula Vogel)
Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy (Sarah Gancher)
Stereophonic (David Adjmi)
Wet Brain (John J. Caswell, Jr.)

Outstanding Musical:

Buena Vista Social Club

Dead Outlaw

Hell’s Kitchen

Here We Are

Suffs

Teeth

Water for Elephants

Outstanding Revival of a Play:

Appropriate

An Enemy of the People

Mary Jane

Purlie Victorious

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:

Gutenberg! The Musical!

I Can Get It for You Wholesale

Merrily We Roll Along

The Who’s Tommy

Book Review: Lord of the Flies

(Borrowed from the Flushing Public Library): Another of the 100 Books I'm supposed to read before I die, at least according to the BBC. This is one of those volumes most people read in school but it was never assigned to me and I haven't gotten around to it till now. William Golding's chilling allegory of the decay of civilization is terribly relevant now. We are witnessing a breakdown of social norms paralleling the one taking place on the desert island. The time is the beginning of an atomic war, a planeful of British schoolboys crashes on a Pacific island with no adult survivors. They attempt to organize themselves into an orderly society with rules and procedures, but with no mature supervision, they descend into chaos and anarchy. 

Each of the boys represents a different way of thinking. Ralph stands for structure and sanity while the animalistic Jack is all id. Intoxicated by the lack of restraint, he transforms the boys into a tribe of brainless savages, concerned only with the thrill of the hunt and not caring a whit for rescue. Piggy is the intellectual, shunned by the others because of his obesity,  asthma, and poor vision. Yet he supplies the spectacles to allow them to set the fires that supply them with heat, a signal to passing ships, and the means to cook the pig meat. 

Order breaks down in a conflict between Ralph and Jack as the majority of the boys lose their rationality. Golding masterfully builds the tension and masks his symbolism so that it seems you're reading an exciting adventure tale rather than an allegory like Animal Farm. The title refers to a symbolic figure of the beast within. The boys fear it because they sense the animalistic madness is within all of them.

We are undergoing a similar struggle with Trump as Jack, lawlessly grabbing for power for its own sake, tossing aside the rules of civility. 

B'way Update: Maybe Faces Supply Chain Issues

Marcus Choi

Maybe Happy Ending, the new Broadway musical about lovelorn robots in South Korea, has shifted its preview and opening dates due to supply chains issues. The show was to have opened on Oct. 17 at the Belasco with previews commencing Sept. 18. The new dates are now Oct. 16 for previews and Nov. 12 for the opening. 

“Maybe Happy Ending uses specially made video projections, which are a critically important part of its scenic design and unfortunately, there has been a delay in production for these custom theatrical goods from the factory which specializes in these models,” explained Allan Williams, Executive Producer. “That supply chain issue has caused the show’s postponement by a few weeks so that we can ensure the show maintains its unique and technologically advanced rendering to tell this story and the world of HelperBots ‘Oliver’ and ‘Claire’.”

The four-person has has been completed. In addition to previously announced Emmy and Golden Globe winner Darren Criss (American Buffalo, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story) and Helen J. Shen (The Lonely Few, Teeth), Dez Duron (NBC’s “The Voice”) and Marcus Choi (Wicked, Flower Drum Song) will make up the quartet. 

B'way Update: BOOP! Sets Dates and Theater; West Bank Cafe to Close

BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical has announced dates and a theater for its Broadway run after a hit engagement in Chicago. The tuner about the 1930s cartoon character will begin previews March 11 at the Broadhurst Theater in advance of an April 5 opening. Other cartoon, comic book or comic strip characters to serve as the basis of Broadway or Off-Broadway musicals include Little Orphan Annie, Li'l Abner, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang, Superman, Donnesbury, Spider-Man, Spongebob Squarepants, and the Addams Family. 

Boop! features a book by Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone), music by David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead (Jelly's Last Jam), and direction and choreography by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots). Complete Broadway casting will be announced at a later date.

BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical in
Chicago

West Bank Cafe to Close: The West Bank Cafe, and its Laurie Beechman cabaret theater, located at W. 42nd Street and Ninth Ave., will close its doors in August. The venue was popular with theatergoers and theater professionals due to its fine food, affordable prices and convenient location to Broadway and Theater Row. Just last week, I had an after-theater meal there last week after attending Ain't Done Bad at the Signature Theater Center. The number of elegant, affordable places for a nice meal before or after the theater is dwindling. All too often I am forced to grab a slice of pizza before a curtain.

The West Bank opened in 1978 and its basement Laurie Beechman Theater opened in 1983. The Beechman, named for the late singer and actress, played host to many cabaret artists including Joan Rivers who would would try out new material there. She played her last performance before her death in 2014 at the Beechman. A young Lewis Black was named playwright-in-residence. Howard Stern broadcast his third annual birthday radio show from the theater. Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Bruce Willis were among the West Bank regulars. T

"Due to the high cost of conducting business and the continuing fallout from the pandemic, we can no longer afford to remain open," owner Steve Olsen stated. "We are forever eternally grateful for the support we have received from our Hell's Kitchen and theatre communities throughout our illustrious 46-year history on Theatre Row, and for the personal relationships and shared history we have forged with our customers and friends."

The popular West Bank Cafe will
close its doors in August.

B'way Update: Redwood Sets Dates and Theater

Idina Menzel in Redwood
at La Jolla Playhouse.
Credit: Rich Soublet

Redwood, the new musical starring Tony winner Idina Menzel (Wicked), has set dates and a theater. Previews begin Jan. 25, 2025 at the Nederlander Theater with an opening set for Feb. 13. 

Written and directed by Tony Award nominee Tina Landau, with music by Kate Diaz, and lyrics by Diaz and  Landau, Redwood is conceived by Landau and Menzel, with additional contributions by Menzel. The musical  premiered earlier this year in a sold-out run at La Jolla Playhouse.  

“I made my Broadway debut at the Nederlander Theatre in Rent almost thirty years ago, so to be returning  there with Redwood is very emotional for me as it feels like a real homecoming,” Menzel said. “It has been  such a gift to collaborate with Tina and Kate on this show, and I’m so proud to bring it to Broadway.”  

Redwood is a transportive new musical about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world  of the redwoods. Jesse (Menzel) seems to have it all — a successful career and devoted family — until a life altering event drives her far from everyone and everything she knows. When she finds herself at the foot of the redwoods in Northern California, a chance encounter and a leap of faith will change her life forever.  Redwood explores the lengths — and heights — one travels to find strength, resilience and healing. 

Additional cast for the Broadway production of Redwood will be announced at a later date. 

B'way Update: Mattress Casting; New Group Season; Etc.

Ana Gasteyer, Will Chase, Nikki Rene Daniels, 
David Patrick Kelly, Brooks Ashmanskas, and 
Daniel Breaker will headline
the Once Upon a Mattress revival.

The complete cast has been announced for the Broadway transfer of the Encores! presentation of Once Upon a Mattress. In addition to Sutton Foster as Princess Winifred and Michael Urie as Prince Dauntless, the cast will include Ana Gasteyer (SNL, The Threepenny Opera) as Queen Aggravain, Tony nominee Brooks Ashmanskas (Fame Becomes Me, Bullets Over Broadway), Tony nominee Daniel Breaker (Shrek) as the Jester, Tony nominee Will Chase (Kiss Me, Kate) as Sir Harry, Nikki Rene Daniels (Company) as Lady Larkin, David Patrick Kelly (Once) as King Sextimus, and Kara Lindsay (Wicked, Newsies) as Winifred's standby. The role of the Minstrel has been eliminated from this version which features a revised book by Amy Sherman-Paladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and direction by Lear deBessonet (Encores' Into the Woods). Mattress begins previews July 31 at the Hudson Theater with an Aug. 12 opening. A Los Angeles engagement at the Ahmanson Theater follows from Dec. 10-Jan. 5, 2025. 

Marisa Tomei, Calista Flockhart,
Cooper Hamilton and Christian Slater
will star in The New Group's upcoming season

New Group Season: The New Group has announced the 2024-25 season, its 30th. The season launches with the New York premiere of Babe by Jessica Goldberg (fall 2024), followed by Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class (winter 2024) and the world premiere of a new musical The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse (spring 2025), with book by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, music and lyrics by Michael Breslin with additional music and lyrics by Patrick Foley; and as previously announced, the world premiere of by Nazareth Hassan’s Bowl EP, a co-production by Vineyard Theatre and National Black Theatre in association with The New Group. The first three productions will play the Pershing Square Signature Center and Bowl EP will play the Vineyard Theater.

Babe will star Oscar winner Marisa Tomei and centers on a husband-and-wife grunge and punk music producing team faced with a challenge from a new A&R hire. Curse of the Starving Class is Sam Shepard's 1977 Obie-winning examination of a shattered American family dealing with encroaching creditors and internal dysfunction. The cast includes Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal, Feud: Capote Vs. the Swans), Cooper Hoffman (son of Philip Seymour Hoffman), and Christian Slater. The Last Bimbo of the Apocalyspe follows a search for a missing pop icon. Bowl EP is about a rap group seeking a name and an identity.

Reaction to Yesterday's Events in Butler, PA

Let me just say the assassination attempt on Trump was horrible and I condemn it. No one deserves that and it's terrible that someone was killed as a result and two people are in critical condition. But it's ironic that Trump, an instigator of political violence, is now the victim of it. And while I hope not, he will probably learn nothing from this horrible experience and instead of using it as a means of calling for national unity, he will likely use it as a rallying cry to divide us. Now Biden and Dems are in an awful position. They will no longer be able to criticize Trump's authoritarian tendencies. Even now, Repubs are blaming Biden and the media for this. Unfortunately, this terrible event will strengthen Trump's position. Also, he'll say nothing about getting AR-15s off the streets.

ab.

Book Review: Day

(Borrowed from the Flushing Public Library where they have more books than in Jackson Heights) Michael Cunningham's post-COVID novel closely resembles his previous works The Hours and By Nightfall. Like The Hours, it has a three-part structure and like By Nightfall, everyone is in love with the single gay male relative. This short work takes place during the morning, afternoon and night on the same day on three successive years April 5, 2019, 2020, and 2021. A well-off, white, modern family is unhappy with their unconventional lifestyle. Isabel and Dan share a Brooklyn brownstone with Isabel's gay brother Robbie (the one everyone is in love with), an elementary school teacher unhappy with his job. Robbie and Dan share parenting for Isabel and Dan's kids, the annoyingly precocious and possibly psychic Violet and the adolescent and sullen Nathan. BTW, did I mention Isabel is unhappy with her job as a magazine photo editor and Dan is unhappy with his status as a former minor rock star. Plus Isabel and Robbie's biggest emotional investment is in creating Instagram posts for an imaginary dream man called Wolfe. Meanwhile, Dan's brother Garth, a struggling sculptor who's unhappy but very good looking like Dan, visits with his son Odin (really? who's gonna name their kid Odin?), the product of artificial insemination with his lesbian friend Chess (short for something? Does she like the game?). Both Chess and Garth are unhappy with their arrangement. Garth wants to be more of a dad to Odin while Chess wants him to keep his distance. BTW, they all can pay the rent and afford insurance and groceries, so there's that. But I suppose a novel about people content with their lot wouldn't sell very well.

Don't get me wrong, Cunningham is a skilled writer and crafts beautiful descriptions of NYC and environs. In the first section, we go through a hectic morning as the characters prepare for school and work. In the second, we're in the afternoon after a few months of lockdown and everyone is even more miserable than in the first part. The third nighttime segment deals with the aftermath of the pandemic and personal changes. Day is beautifully written, but I didn't believe or care about a lot of the conflicts.    

Where Are We Now? The Slow Slide to Autocracy

Will Biden stay in the race?

Are we slipping slowly to autocracy? If Trump wins a second term will our democratic institutions crumble? Will there be a silent, bloodless coup, accomplishing what Jan. 6, 2021 did not? What will America become? What exactly does Trump threaten us with?

Before the disastrous debate, I was confident Biden could win the election. But now, it looks really bad. It's not just a question of the president having a bad night. He appeared to be a doddering old man on the edge of dementia. There are reports this is not a "one-off," that he's been this way before. An announcement that he will not schedule any meeting after 8PM and he will get more sleep does not help. That paints a picture of an incompetent, daytime president. And will Biden be able to do the job at least competently through an entire second term at the end of which he will 86? 

This is not "elitist" panicking at a poor debate performance or a drama-obsessed mainstream media stirring up conflict in a mindless rush for ratings and clicks. That characterization is unfair. Maybe it works to shore up Biden's support among minorities and labor unions by calling the top brass of the Democratic Party, the chattering pundit class, and Hollywood millionaires like George Clooney clueless rich people who are not attuned to the common man. But the media is just doing its job by reporting the truth and the top Dems are justifiably nervous about Biden's ability to defeat Trump and consequently, their ability to take back the House and keep the Senate.

2024 Theater Hall of Fame Inductees

Charles Busch is among the
2024 Theater Hall of Fame inductees

The Theater Hall of Fame has announced its 2024 inductees, voted on by members of the American Theater Critics Association and previous inductees. They include actors Elizabeth Ashley (Barefoot in the Park, Dividing the Estate), Boyd Gaines (Gypsy, Journey's End), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences, Between Riverside and Crazy), and Donna Murphy (Passion, The King and I); playwright and performer Charles Busch (Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife); composer William Finn (Falsettos); playwright David Rabe (The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, Sticks and Bones, Hurlyburly); and, posthumously producer Todd Haimes.

The induction ceremony will take place on Nov. 18 at the Gershwin Theater where the names of the new honorees will be added to the walls of the theater. To be eligible, a candidate must have at least 25 years of theater experience or be a leader of Off-Broadway or regional theater. Terry Hodge Taylor produces the annual event.

Book Review: Naked

(Acquired while staying at a friend's house who wanted to get rid of a bunch of books.) I've read most of David Sedaris' books and essays in the New Yorker. They don't make me laugh out loud like the critics' quotes on the back cover say, but they are amusing. This early collection was free and only just under 300 pages, so I figured why not? The autobiographical pieces follows Sedaris from his childhood to various bizarre work experiences to the final title story where he spends a week in a nudist colony. I enjoyed the chapter on his eccentric old-world grandmother moving in with the family the most. The work chapters were kinda funny but only raising a mild smile for me. His employors and co-workers are all eccentric and/or borderline psychotic. One gets the feeling that either he's exaggerating a bit or he stays with them just to get a good story out of the experience. 

The penultimate chapter on his sister getting married while his mom is diagnosed with an inoperable tumor is the perfect blend of black humor and unsentimental pathos. 

The Ghosts-Gilded Age Connection

The cast of CBS' Ghosts

I love it when there is a connection between two of my favorite TV shows, or two of my favorite anything--comic books, movies, Broadway musicals or plays, whatever. Tonight I found one. A few weeks ago, I started watched CBS' Ghosts and got hooked. It looked rather silly when it first appeared on the air three years ago, but then I discovered there were several intriguing storylines including Isaac and Nigel, a pair of gay Revolutionary War era spirits who discover each other in the afterlife, and Hetty, the mistress of Woodstone Manor during the late 1880s. 

The show is pretty funny although there are some weird inconsistencies. The ghosts can't consume or taste food, but they can smell it. They need sleep and can have sex with each other. Why would they need sleep or sex if they have no corporal bodies?

The real Mamie Fish; and Ashlie Atkinson
as the Gilded Age version

Anyway, Hetty (played to a drily sarcastic turn by Rebecca Wisocky) is the connection to the HBO Gilded Age series since she was alive then. While watching all of the old episodes from Seasons 1 through 3 on Paramount Plus, I discovered an even stronger link. In a Season Two segment, the second part of the Christmas special I believe, Trevor, the pantless finance bro, mentions to Hetty (with whom he is having a clandestine ghostly affair) she threw a party to compete with a soiree held by Mamie Fish for her daughter. Mrs. Fish is a real person, but this means in the fictional universe, Hetty Woodstone and Mamie Fish (played by Ashlie Atkinson whom we love in the role) knew each other. So wouldn't it be cool if Rebecca guest-starred on Season Three of Gilded Age as her living Ghosts persona? But that would probably be too much.

B'way actors Phylicia Rashad, Jordan Donica,
Brian Stokes Mitchell and Victoria Clark
will join the cast for Season 3 of
The Gilded Age.
Credit: LUIS BARRIOS;
COREY VANDERPLOEG;
PARADIGM; SOPHIE ELGORT

In other Gilded Age news, more casting of Broadway actors has been announced for Season Three. These include Tony winners Phylicia Rashad (Raisin in the Sun, Skeleton Crew), Brian Stokes Mitchell (Kiss Me Kate), and Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza, Kimberly Akimbo) and Tony nominee Jordan Donica (Camelot). Rashad and Mitchell will play prominent members of New York's African-American community and Donica will be their son, a doctor. Clark is an old money New Yorker who supports a son and will face a difficult situation. Perhaps the son will show an interest in Marion who remains unattached after rejecting a proposal of marriage last season. Season Three just started filming in Troy, NY.

Let's start a write-in campaign to get
the live version of Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky)
on HBO's The Gilded Age.
Credit: CBS

Reconstructing the Carol Burnett Show: Part 43

It's been almost a year since we've visited the Carol Burnett Show. Except for one brief musical excerpt found on YouTube, I haven't found any missing material from the "lost" years of the first five seasons. However, I did came across DVD collections of episodes from Seasons 6 through 11. Carol's Favorites was found at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts while This Time Together was hiding at a Salvation Army store for $1. These episodes are available in their entirety. Some of the ones on these collections have been covered in previous blogs. Here are reviews of shows I have not already commented on.

(This Time Together) Season 6: Nov. 1, 1972
Guests: Peggy Lee, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara

The show starts with the the infamous Mary Worthless sketch where everything went wrong. Lines and props were dropped. Harvey tripped while jumping out of a window with a cake in his face. Carol's last line was "Don't be surprised if I show up on your doorstep." She added, "Better yet, be surprised because I'm not doing this again."

Meara and Stiller as Lyle's uncouth parents

Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were the premiere married comedy duo of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I think there was one other--Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill, aka The Fun Couple. But Stiller and Meara made more high-profile appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, Mike Douglas, etc. I saw them in Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers and The Prisoner of Second Avenue at Philadelphia's Playhouse in the Park while they co-hosted the Mike Douglas Show during the day. Here they perform a sketch imagining the reactions of Mr. and Mrs. Chou En-Lai to Richard Nixon's famous visit to China. The scene is stuffed with Chinese stereotypes which wouldn't play today. ("These foreigners all look alike to me.") Would Stiller and Meara's ethnic humor (he's Jewish, she's Irish-Catholic) still work now? 

Lyle as Hugo Biceps, Carol and Anne Meara
in the Circus episode of
As the Stomach Turns

As the Stomach Turns finally gets out of Marian's living room and shifts to the circus with Anne as a bearded lady and owner of the big top which she suspects is being sabotaged from within. Lyle makes a heart-stopping appearance as Hugo Biceps, the strongman whom Marian salivates over. Lyle is practically barechested in a lionskin outfit which Carol as Marian does her best to remove. Of course, this scene and Lyle's gorgeous exposed muscles have stayed in my mind for 50 years. There was one joke I didn't get when I was 12. Marian is questioning Hugo as to his whereabouts the previous night, trying to ascertain if he is the saboteur. "I was in bed, alone," he answers. "And the night before that?" "Alone." "And the night before that?" "Alone." "You really are the strongest man in the world," Marian tremblingly observes. I didn't get the gag then and my mother failed to explain it adequately. Only now do I realize Marian meant Hugo was strong because he resisted the obvious temptation that everyone in Canuga Falls wanted to sleep with him.

Peggy Lee has a silky solo and duets with Carol on a silly ditty on women gossiping. The finale combines music and comedy as Harvey and Carol as Vicki's patrician parents clash with Jerry and Anne as Lyle's low-class dad and mom when the kids want to get married. The class distinctions provided chuckles and the wedding is conducted by Peggy singing "The Rhythm of Life" from Sweet Charity.

Biden Debate Debacle, Trump Immunity Decision

It is with great difficulty that I write about the current state of the presidential election. Last Thursday, I had no plans to watch the debate with Biden and Trump. I knew it was going to be unbearable no matter what happened. I couldn't stand to see Trump lying and I feared Biden would appear too old for the job. So I decided to see another form of political theater and attended N/A, Mario Correa's two-character play about Nancy Pelosi and my Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But the reality of the debate was a hundred times worse than my fears. The play was only 80 minutes and it was still light out when it finished at 8:30. By the time I got home, there was still 30 minutes left in the debate and Biden was wobbly, hesitant, appeared confused and spoke in a whisper. He was like a a doddering, tired old man who needed a nap. Trump continued to lie his ass off, but no one was paying attention to that since that's what he always does. 

I was heartened by Biden's speech the next day in Raleigh, NC where he was energetic and focused. But then I heard reports that he is on point only during the day and at night he tends to slow down. A shockingly bad poll followed with over 70 percent saying they didn't think Biden was mentally fit to for his office. Of course, they were not asked if they still vote for him or not given the alternative.

Cries for Biden to step aside started right away and have intensified. Today's Supreme Court ruling that Trump has some immunity in the Jan. 6 case further confounds the picture. Scotus did not say which of his acts are official and which are not, leaving that to the district court, further delaying the case. A delay is considered a win for Trump. It's obvious to me that scheming to put in fake electors and encouraging an insurrection are NOT official acts and he should be tried for them.

But Trump's sentencing in the hush money case is coming up next week. Hopefully, it will be severe, but I have a feeling there will be no jail time.

Things don't look good. Frankly, Biden should have dropped out a year ago so a viable Democratic candidate could emerge. If I were an average voter, paying more attention to prime-time Let's Make a Deal than to politics and having no convictions, I would say, "Look, I don't like Trump, but Biden is a tired old man. At least Trump is awake. I don't care that he slept with Stormy Daniels and paid her money to shut up about it. And so what if he kept some documents and stored them in the shower. What difference does it make. I'll hold my nose and vote for the convicted felon. Or I'll stay home and watch The Price Is Right." 

I have a bad feeling Biden is not going to drop out. Maybe it won't make a difference, but I tremble to think what happens if he goes through with another debate in September.

Book Review: A Mercy

(Taken out of the Jackson Heights Library) Read right after Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye which was written at the beginning of her career. A Mercy was one of her later efforts. In this short novel, the language is just as deep and the narrative is more complex. Set in the late 1690s in the Maryland and Virginia colonies where slavery has recently taken root, A Mercy follows how the evils of that practice twist and warp both the victims and the masters.  

After a confusing first chapter, it took a while to figure out what was going on. But I gradually pieced together the main plot. After the master has died of the pox and his wife is at death's door, the slave Florens has been sent to fetch the blacksmith, a free black man with medicinal knowledge to save the mistress. Tending her is Lena, a Native woman and main servant, and the girl Sorrow. Florens is in love with the blacksmith and may or may not return to her mistress's home. 

Like Faulkner's Sound and the Fury, different characters narrate each chapter in their particular distinctive voices as the story goes back and forth in time. We get all the women of the house, the master, two male indentured servants, and finally Florsens' mother each expressing their dreams and passions under the yoke of slavery.

Morrison examines how each character is effected by their harsh environment and the cruel slavery system. Like the heroine of Beloved, Florens is driven to violence by her oppression. The writing is a little dense, but very powerful and poetic.