jackviertel.bsky.social

@jackviertel.bsky.social

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Producer, dramaturg, author, opinionated schmuck

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Happy Fifth of July to all who celebrate the day Kenny Talley came to his senses and Aunt Sally figured out what to do with Matt Friedman’s ashes. And thank you Lanford.

Watched the 1979 Going in Style last night -- I'm having an Art Carney moment. What a modest, charming unpretentious movie. A "small film" from that era. They don't do that now -- or very rarely. I was utterly charmed.

Happy to say that Broadway's supper club @54Below will be doing an evening on 11/11 featuring songs that are important in my novel BROADWAY MELODY, with a group of terrific women performing. More on this as it develops.

Ran into my first college girlfriend in Portland a few days ago. Neither of us has changed at all since 1968.

I've kept quiet about The Outsiders because I was a part of it, but having seen all the others, it seems to me that it is the only one that works efficiently from beginning to end to tell the story it wants to tell and moves the audience in the process. Congratulations.

Merrily deservedly wins the Tony for best revival without anyone caring to mention James Lapine, who is largely responsible for the shape of the current show as opposed to the one that flopped originally. If I was him, I'd be pissed.

Having considered the matter as a mature citizen a few years after his passing, I think Sondheim’s best ever playlet piece is The Girls Upstairs. And I think I’ve always felt that way.

For some reason I went down an Oliver Hailey rabbit hole -- he was a quite successful TV writer. He had three plays produced on Broadway each of which played a single performance. Three play, three performance. Must be some kind of a record. I did see one of them. You had to scramble to get there.

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OK, I am excited that the guy who founded Chobani Yogurt bought Anchor Steam and is reopening it. I love even more that he's reached out to all the original workers in hopes of bringing them back. This is the billionaire shit I want to see.

Did Stephen Sondheim really rhyme coming, drumming and running? Asking for a friend.

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The Least Happy Felon

I just became aware that the title Blood, Sweat and Stanley Pool only employs one comma. Is this a crime?

@bcdreyer.bsky.social strikes again in @washingtonpost.com with another delightful slap on the head at our increasingly foolish misuse of the only language most of us know. A fulsome and bemusing read that you should all look at momentarily.

The audiences I'm seeing at the new musicals all seem to be having a fabulous time. At the same time, they always look like people who wouldn't be caught dead at any of the other new musicals. I find this interesting.

So, like everyone else, I hated The Shining in 1980, but it has been so thoroughly reconsidered over the decades that I thought I ought to try again. It's a ridiculous and very long movie.

Ahh, Covid. I had forgotten. Yecch.

The usual shameless self promotion: Tune in this Saturday at Noon ET to “Be Our Guest” as we will be speaking with Jack Viertel about his novel ‘Broadway Melody’ THEN Jack Godfrey and his show ‘42 Balloons’ Listen at musicaltheatreradio.com

From Follies in Vegas direct to Street Scene in Paris. I'm suddenly a world traveler. So much good music! Such a good time. Now back to Broadway's the latest crop. Time marches on I guess; I'll do my best to stay open to all of it. But after Follies and Street Scene? I'll try.

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Imagine being rich and wanting to do boring shit like hoard money when you can do things like this instead

Rupert Grint said his childhood dream job was to be an ice cream truck driver, so he bought an ice cream truck with the money he made from the Harry Potter movies and drove around the English countryside giving free ice cream to children. Literally living the dream

Rupert Grint bought an ice cream truck with Harry Potter fortunewww.essexlive.news For the final day of shooting Haryy Potter, Rupert rocked up on set in his very own ice cream van, handing out lollies and 99s to the cast and crew

Having lost my mind - or what was left of it - I am waiting to board a plane for Vegas to see a production of Follies in which my pal Ted Chapin is playing Dimitri Weismann. Am I in for a treat or what?

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Such a gift to Democrats.Thank you, Arizona Supreme Court, all of you appointed by Republican governors! www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/u...

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The 1864 anti-choice law that Arizona has chosen to enforce is not just outdated now, it was outdated during the fucking gunfight at the OK corral.

OK folks, I'm still a little jet-lagged so just before I turned in I checked my new novel BROADWAY MELODY on Amazon and it's number 1 in the Broadway & Musicals category. I'm floored. You can keep it that way. And it'll bring you luck. www.amazon.com/gp/new-relea...

I cry pretty easily at the theater, but @IrishRep's PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME! would reduce Calvin Coolidge to a puddle on the ground. A wonderful production of a spectacular play.

I was an adoring fan of John Barth, who died earlier this week. His late work is blindingly complex and difficult, but if you are curious, his first book, THE FLOATING OPERA, is quick and completely irresistible. And the first chapter has been my guide for many years. How did he write it in his 20s?

I am still getting over the loss of Christopher Durang, who came up with my generation and produced more laughter and quite a few more tears for me than any in that talented group of writers. Unique isn't an adequate word for the work he created. I hope it will outlive him by many generations.

I'm back from Fiji, where the fish and corals are healthy and plentiful. All that means for you is that I'm probably gonna start promoting my book again. But what the hell, you had a week off.