Happy New Year, I Must Be Going

J. Holtham, a.k.a. 99 Seats.

Swamped at work and with the bambino, and I'm working on a new musical with my Devil and Tom Walker crew, and things here are heating up a bit...All this is my way to apologize, in retrospect and advance both, for ultralight posting. I have been glancing at the theatro-blogosphere, and seeing things heat up all over the place, from the Prof to Parabasis. But few theater bloggers have been on as much of a tear as 99. I only hope that the revelation of his identity won't slow his impressive momentum or get him to pull his punches.

In other news, another anonymous blogger, Stage Right, unveiled his identity. I knew Larry a bit when I covered theater in L.A., and he was a gracious, smart guy with a lot of showbiz savvy and a great sense of humor. That he's become a whiny, sanctimonious Breitbart foot soldier doesn't square with my memory of the guy, but when we're in the same ZIP code perhaps we'll meet for a drink and he can explain to me precisely how the NEA, ACORN, and SEIU are destroying our fragile democracy. He did point me to this interesting article in City Journal; the theme--why aren't there more conservative voices onstage?--is well-trod and frankly a yawner for me, but there's some new stuff in it (apparently the Flea will produce Jonathan Reynolds' "strongly pro-life" play Girls in Trouble, though the only confirmation I could find was here).

Finally, speaking of City Journal, I'm proud to have shepherded into the new issue of American Theatre a provocative--and to my mind, pretty convincing--essay by John McWhorter (adapted from his fine book Word on the Street, a copy of which I literally happened to find on the street in Brooklyn last fall) about why Shakespeare should be translated into English. Marion McClinton has already weighed in...

A Happy 2010 to you and yours.