notanotherbookreview

Life scrolls ever more quickly. It's almost January 2025 yet I still recall the surprise of SKYSCRAPER (Urban Stages November 7-17, 2024), the freshness of this 1960s piece (book by Peter Stone, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by James Van Heusen.)  After many years of existing only in memory and writing, this  SKYSCRAPER  was the first live onstage revival, since its Broadway debut in 1965.  Multiple collaborators-- Regeneration Theatre , Combustion Collective and Nelda Yaw Buckman  wanted to produce this show, a short run in a small storefront theater on 30th St. Why? This was not a showcase for a bigger production. Economies of scale enriched the focus of this show, on target for its era and ours. Groups dancing seemed to defy our time and the small stage.   SKYSCRAPER was a successful musical with 248 performances, 5 Tony nominations, including "Best Musical." The ballad, "I'll only miss her when I think of her, " was a hit for Sina...

ARIANE  a Russian Girl  by Claude Anet  (New York Review of Books ) is set in 1920s provincial Russia, though its teen heroine's attitude toward men is pure pop diva. Yet in this time and place, men might rule women from birth to death, but Ariane's life was her own. Her aunt may be an influence, a rare educated woman and a physician, who's chosen to pursue a happy single life.. Then past 40, Ariane is shocked to see her proud aunt humilated, ruined by "romantic love." Weaponizing her beauty and intelligence,  Ariane becomes popular among men of her class, young and old with money and titles, who assume she is marriageable. Yet, the only expectations she entertains are to pursue her education at the university in Moscow.  When her final exams are "brilliant," and she's accepted by the elite Moscow university, Ariane's thrilled, though her father to pay.  He demands she arrive at his home and prepare to marry his friend. Legally, at 17, Ariane...