WORD FACTORY

posted by James Reel

    Late yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail from the head of the Catalina Players advising me not to drive across town to see her play last night, because there’d be no performance. It seems that an inspector from Atria Bell Court Gardens, whose lovely little Academy Hall is home to the theater company, had just told them they had to move their stage back a foot and a half. This just before opening night. I don’t know both sides of the story, so I won’t comment on this odd situation, but I confess I was relieved not to have to go out last night. I’ve got plenty else to do. Between now and late Sunday afternoon, I must review two other plays and write two previews for the Tucson Weekly, edit an art review by Margaret Regan for the Weekly, finish preparing the index for a book about Arizona sheriffs, write a profile of violinist Jennifer Koh, and proofread two chapters of somebody’s dissertation. First thing Monday I need to start proofreading a book about arthritis, and start reviewing some CDs for Fanfare. Plus the usual fun and frivolity here at KUAT-FM. I’ll wave to you when I come up for air.

DRIVERS WANTED

posted by James Reel

    My theater review in the latest Tucson Weekly is, unusually for me, nothing less than a rave:

    There are times when an avid theatergoer gets so discouraged that staying home to watch TV actually seems like a viable option. Why venture out and pay good money to see yet another opportunistic jukebox musical, soullessly jokey comedy, half-hearted revival, or rough and underfunded new play that really needs to be worked over by a good dramaturg before it's ready for public consumption?
    But then some company presents a play that's heartfelt and true, perceptively directed, acted with profound understanding of the characters, and designed with such intelligence that the story and characters are supported and amplified by every detail of costume, set, sound and light. And then we remember why we should turn off the TV and take a chance on the theater.
    Arizona Theatre Company has mounted just such a production, a moving, funny, finely wrought version of August Wilson's Jitney.

    Read the rest here. And while you’re poking around the TW Web site, take a look at this week’s feature. It’s an excerpt from The Reaper's Line: Life and Death on the Mexican Border by Lee Morgan II. It's a book I edited, the memoirs of a recently retired Customs agent based in Douglas. The most hilarious bits didn’t get into the Weekly, but a couple of the more harrowing, gut-wrenching episodes did.

NICE GUYS

posted by James Reel

    Some people perceive classical musicians as distant and even arrogant, and that's certainly true in some cases. But yesterday I was reminded how warm and genuinely nice many classical artists can be.
    I called violinist Jaime Laredo at his home in Vermont to get some comments for an article I’m writing on one of his former students, Jennifer Koh. I’d interviewed Laredo a couple of times in the past and met him socially when he appeared in Tucson with his Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, and I’ve always found him to be genial and open. But I was especially impressed by the warmth and generosity of his praise of Jennifer Koh, and I could almost sense that he blushed when I told him that Koh thinks of him as her mentor. Laredo, besides being a superb chamber musician, obviously cares deeply about people other than himself.
    I also placed a call to England to chat with John Rutter about his new recording with the Cambridge Singers of (mostly) Renaissance music for the bedtime Compline service. Rutter has enjoyed a long career as a choral conductor, but he’s even better known as a composer of highly accessible choral music. A couple of decades ago, some people dismissed Rutter’s music simply because it was pretty, but now I think most of us understand that there’s a big difference between music like Rutter’s that contains both prettiness and integrity, and music by others that is merely opportunistic shlock. I hadn’t had reason to speak with Rutter for several years, but as soon as yesterday’s conversation began I remembered why I’d enjoyed our previous interview so much: He comes across as articulate, precise in his expression, yet gentle and kind. This man is the very personification of Fauré’s Requiem, the work that makes even death seem like a loving comfort.
    Now, being nice does not mean that you are necessarily a good musician, and a great many vile, reprehensible people clog the pantheon of Great Artists. But we sometimes forget that it’s perfectly normal for good people like Jaime Laredo and John Rutter to make good music. You don’t have to suffer, or be insufferable, to be an artist.