Interview
“Buster Keaton’s imagination and ideas are more surrealistic than Chaplin’s, and his stunts are astonishing in terms of their demanding technique, even today”.
“I love Fats Waller. Fats Waller will always be here because he is simply that magnetic a person(a).”
“Bernard Malamud is the great sentence-maker, the great craftsman, and the sheer quality of those sentences has never perhaps been given its complete due.”
In his book, Ira Stoll argues that John F. Kennedy was, “by the standards of both his time and our own, a conservative.”
“It seems now that quality spreads through reputation — the live show is where we really see bands pull away from the pack. It takes quality now to survive. Strong work.”
“If, as a reader, you’re expecting the standard rap on meat, then, well, you’re in for an unexpected history.”
“The working relationship is based on the mutual feeling that all three of us have the same understanding of the purpose of the theatre – to present plays that create a cathartic experience for the spectator, which might open his eyes and his heart to a new consciousness.”
“There is a struggle in love in the best of circumstances, and when on top of the daily challenges there are divisions of culture or society or simply of invented categories – well, that does make it all the harder.”
“We pushed the pause button a while ago…..now we have pushed the play button. The big difference is that we have 220 years of combined professional experience between us this time out.”
Arts Commentary: The Kennedy Center and the Boston Symphony Orchestra — A Tale of Two Crises