legacy | The Smart Set

Brilliant Zingers and Vodka Stingers

A.D. Amorosi — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:30:00 +0000

During the second episode of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans — producer Ryan Murphy’s streaming series based on author Truman Capote’s lived-in-and-laughed-over 1960s among Manhattan’s “ladies who lunch” — titular actor Tom Hollander truly has his way with spite. Leaning with persnickety dread into a line that all but explains the raison d’etre of biting […]

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Sondheim. Now.

A.D. Amorosi — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 12:30:00 +0000

“Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is no solution.” Stephen Sondheim Heading into 2024, one of the most noticeable things about the ties that unite the live theater-scape, from the Great White Way through to touring houses around the country, is how it is happily riddled with all that is Stephen Sondheim. Beyond […]

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Circle of Angels

David M. Rubin — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:30:00 +0000

A foreshortened dove soars to us, wings outstretched. The pure white bird has dipped down to clear the trees, or perhaps has just condensed from cloud. Moving or frozen in space, the bird is perfectly centered above a hand holding a clamshell, gently pouring water. It is the embodiment of the Holy Spirit and is […]

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Rock ‘n’ Roll by Any Other Name

Matt Hanson — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 11:30:00 +0000

John Lennon once said that if you wanted to give rock ’n’ roll another name you might call it Chuck Berry. Far be it from me to disagree with him, but that’s not quite true: There are a few different founding fathers and mothers in the mix. Consider the incendiary flamboyance of Little Richard or […]

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August and Everything After

Michael James — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 11:30:00 +0000

It’s the natural way of things, that some works of art are remembered, some revived, some forgotten. Nirvana has had a revival among Gen Zs, or at least Nirvana T-shirts. Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, far less so. So far, it seems to me, August and Everything After, the 1993 debut album by the […]

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A Century of Hank Williams

Matt Hanson — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 11:30:00 +0000

In his wry, self-deprecating “Tower of Song” Leonard Cohen reflects on his legacy and his place within the grand tradition of songwriters. “I asked Hank Williams how lonely does it get/ Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet/ but I hear him coughing/ all night long/ a hundred floors above me in the tower of song.” It’s […]

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Agatha Christie Redux

Laura Berlinsky-Schine — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 11:30:00 +0000

I was 11 years old when I first broke the spine of And Then There Were None. That was my introduction to Agatha Christie, and what an introduction it was. Arguably the Queen of Crime’s most famous work — although there is some stiff competition — it hooked me. I devoured it in hours. I […]

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The Flipside of a Dream

Matt Hanson — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 11:30:00 +0000

Alfred Hitchcock was born 124 years ago and has been dead for just over four decades, and we still can’t stop talking about him. He’s a household name with an instantly recognizable profile, and his films are required viewing for both movie nerds and newbies alike. Vertigo was recently voted the greatest film of all […]

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For Dad, On His Day

Michael Laser — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 11:30:00 +0000

It’s been 20 years since my father died. Over the past few months, I’ve been writing down stories: what I know about his life and what I remember most vividly, the good and the bad.  A newspaper published a profile of him just after World War II, but that was a flattering human interest story […]

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Why Mr. Darcy Has Always Been Black-ish

Liliana Hartfield — Thu, 18 May 2023 11:30:00 +0000

My sister’s summer assignment for high school honors English included reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and watching the BBC miniseries for extra credit. To my ears, this was extreme punishment inflicted by an instructor determined to deprive students of any rest. As a supportive baby sister, I decided to sit beside her and laugh as […]

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