Welcome to Litsy!

My introduction to WWII's Operation Mincemeat came via a great #PersephonePick called Operation Heartbreak. Then a few months later, I learned the true story was turned into a musical and I was *obsessed*. Now, some of the musical's superfans have published a book about their own research into the story of Mincemeat's unsung hero, Hester Leggatt. "Finding Hester" is a testament to the power of art and the importance of setting the record straight.

I was so lucky to see the Broadway run of this play and it absolutely knocked me out, this story of a band making their second album, on the cusp of stardom, and all of the personal and creative tensions that go along with it. The exploration of the millions of tiny decisions, the push and pull of what makes great art, felt so immediate and powerful. If you read the script, I suggest also listening to the cast album for a more complete experience.

I saw this show last February, and feverishly pre-ordered this script as soon as it became available. It showed up this afternoon and I tore through it in record time, laughing the whole way through. I know that there are some seriously timely and important plays expected to be nominated for Tonys this year, but I just can't help hoping that Escola's funny, filthy, improbably heartfelt, utterly stupid and capital R Ridiculous show sweeps them all.

This is not book-related (although his musical Falsettos won Best Book at the 1992 Tonys!) but I had to take a moment to mourn William Finn, one of the greatest musical theatre composers to ever do it. If you're a theatre kid, join me in listening to Falsettos, A New Brain, Spelling Bee, and Elegies on repeat today. If you're not a theatre kid, can I interest you in discovering some damn good music and poignant stories? #SeeMoreTheatre

The play-reading spree continues! I recently finished off these two in quick succession and loved them both. Even on the page, you can see how engaging Fleabag was as a live solo work, and being a huge fan of the TV series, it was cool to see what was chosen for expansion in a new medium. Meanwhile Choir Boy is one of my favorite new plays of the past decade(ish). One review called it "a poem inside a play" and I couldn't agree more.

Even the stage directions slay me! You know I can't resist the move to wax poetic about my favorite art form. #SeeMoreTheatre

Choose your fighter!

In last few years, a number of new plays have been written that explore, critique, or investigate Arthur Miller's classic. One of them, John Proctor is the Villain, will have a Broadway run this spring so I figured it was a good time to revisit them as a series of sorts. Each retelling is great in its own way, but the tagged book by the unmatched Sarah Ruhl is the true stunner- surprising, heartbreaking, complex, and defiant.

Two weeks ago, I saw the new Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet, so of course I had to revisit the source material beforehand! Like a million others, R&J was my introduction to Shakespeare. I don't love this play but I'm grateful for the teacher who made my 6th grade class read it. It made me a stronger, more confident reader in general and got me curious enough to seek out more of Shakespeare's work, enriching my whole life as a result. ❤️

A short but sweet exploration of the power of comedy via thousands-year-old dirty jokes. Along the way we get meditations on power, patriarchy, suppression, subversion, and the beef between Aristophanes (lauded ancient playwright known as the Father of Comedy) and Ariphrades (writer referenced in Aristotle‘s Poetics, but with no surviving works and now best remembered for his fondness for cunnilingus). Ancient theatre stays teaching us, folks.

I liked this one more than I didn't, but in taking aim at "boring" theatre, the author comes off as supercilious, as if his tastes, ideas, and aesthetics are superior to all else. I agree that we need more boldness in theatre, that there need to be new approaches to the development of new plays and the structures of arts institutions, that artists need more freedom to fail- but I also wish we could be more "Yes, and..." in our thinking. ???