"Butley"

Dominic West as Butley in Simon Gray’s “Butley” at the Duchess Theatre, London.

To be blunt, West stunk. The whole production stunk.

West is uglier than sin, which did not contribute to our enjoyment of the afternoon.

The theater was practically empty the afternoon we saw “Butley”. The many unoccupied seats were exceptionally well-deserved.

The production has closed since we attended the August 4 matinee.

"Betrayal"

Kristin Scott Thomas in Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” at the Comedy Theatre, London.

To be blunt, Thomas stunk. The whole production stunk.

Thomas is uglier than sin, which did not contribute to our enjoyment of the evening.

The theater was practically empty the evening we saw “Betrayal”. The many unoccupied seats were exceptionally well-deserved.

The production has closed since we attended the August 4 evening performance.

"Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead"

Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker as the title characters in Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead” at Theatre Royal Haymarket, London.

To be blunt, Barnett and Parker stunk. The whole production stunk.

“Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead” was the London production I had most looked forward to seeing. It turned out to be the very worst of the productions we attended.

The theater was practically empty the evening we saw “Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead”. The many unoccupied seats were exceptionally well-deserved.

The production has closed since we attended the August 5 evening performance.

"Pygmalion"

Rupert Everett as Higgins in George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” at the Garrick Theatre, London.

To be blunt, Everett stunk. His may have been the single worst performance I have ever witnessed (although it would be unfair to deny the Eliza of the production the right to compete for such honor).

Everett is uglier than sin, which did not contribute to our enjoyment of the afternoon.

The theater was half-full the afternoon we saw “Pygmalion”. According to a British gentleman sitting near us, “there would not be five people in the paying audience this afternoon were it not for the fact that everyone is here to see Diana Rigg”.

The production, which we saw on the afternoon of August 6, will close on Saturday.

"The Cherry Orchard"

Zoe Wanamaker as Madame Ranevskaya in Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” at The National Theatre, London.

To be blunt, Wanamaker stunk. The whole production stunk.

Wanamaker is uglier than sin, which did not contribute to our enjoyment of the evening.

The production has closed since we attended the August 6 evening performance.

“The Cherry Orchard” performance we attended was sold out. That fact doesn’t speak well for London audiences or London critics (who largely heaped praise on the production). The production should have been booed to the rafters.

I cannot help but observe that Ben Brantley of The New York Times, whom I do not generally admire, likened the London “Cherry Orchard” production to Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies”, referring to the London “Cherry Orchard” staging as “that Chekhov play about aging vaudevillians who get together to put on one last show”.

Crossing Arms, Planting Feet

Those with the capacity to hire American workers—small businesses as well as large, publicly traded or private—are immobilized. Not because they lack entrepreneurial zeal or do not wish to grow; not because they can’t access cheap and available credit. Rather, they simply cannot budget or manage for the uncertainty of fiscal and regulatory policy. In an environment where they are already uncertain of potential growth in demand for their goods and services and have yet to see a significant pickup in top-line revenue, there is palpable angst surrounding the cost of doing business. According to my business contacts, the opera buffa of the debt ceiling negotiations compounded this uncertainty, leaving business decision makers frozen in their tracks.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of a business operator. On the revenue side, you have yet to see a robust recovery in demand; growing your top-line revenue is vexing. You have been driving profits or just maintaining your margins through cost reduction and achieving maximum operating efficiency. You have money in your pocket or a banker increasingly willing to give you credit if and when you decide to expand.

But you have no idea where the government will be cutting back on spending, what measures will be taken on the taxation front and how all this will affect your cost structure or customer base. Your most likely reaction is to cross your arms, plant your feet and say: “Show me. I am not going to hire new workers or build a new plant until I have been shown what will come out of this agreement.”

Dallas Federal Reserve Board President Richard W. Fisher, speaking in Midland, Texas, on August 17, 2011

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And, of course, the U.S. moved back into recession in the Second Quarter (and perhaps the First Quarter), with the current Third Quarter showing shocking deterioration in economic indicators.

“When The Rise Of The Oceans Began To Slow And Our Planet Began To Heal”

1940 Redux

Trafalgar Square

We shall leave for Great Britain tomorrow.

We shall return on Sunday, August 14.

My Final Updated List

Below is a list of all non-orchestral concerts Andrew and I have attended since I last updated this list.

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Tokyo String Quartet
Lynn Harrell, Cello

Jordan Hall
Boston

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Pinchas Zukerman, Violin And Viola
Yefim Bronfman, Piano

Symphony Hall
Boston

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Takacs String Quartet

Jordan Hall
Boston

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Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Baritone
Ivan Ilja, Piano

Symphony Hall
Boston

Cardboard For Glass

During World War II, German industry could not fulfill the demand for glass.

As soon as the Allies began in earnest the air campaign against Germany, broken windows—of which there were millions—could not be replaced.

In Berlin, the authorities devised a short-term solution to the shortage—indeed, the absence—of glass: sheets of cardboard were issued to the citizens of Berlin.