Terry Teachout
Drama Critic, Wall Street Journal
Terry Teachout is the drama critic for The Wall Street Journal and the chief culture critic for Commentary magazine. His writings on theater, music, and the arts have appeared in a variety of publications, including The New York Times and National Review. His most recent book, "Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), was published in December 2009. Teachout is also the librettist for The Letter (composer Paul Moravec), an operatic version of Somerset Maugham's 1927 play, which was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera in 2006 and premiered there in 2009.
While Shakespeare’s plays speak to all time periods, attempts to make them explicitly address contemporary issues often fall flat. Here the Wall Street Journal critic discusses how NOT to adapt […]
The fate of the newspaper critic is closely tied to the fate of print media. Can either survive?
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5 min
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Music and drama critic Terry Teachout recently wrote his first libretto; the opera became a hit. What would he advise others attempting this daunting form?
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4 min
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Everyone knows the staples of the Broadway repertoire; they get recycled every decade or so. Which masterpieces are we overlooking?
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3 min
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How should actors strive to play Shakespeare? What should audiences watch for when they attend a production? The drama critic shares his views.
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4 min
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Jazz is still exciting, says critic Terry Teachout, but its inability to connect with young audiences is “anxiety-making” for lovers of the art.
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4 min
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Critic Terry Teachout describes the unrestrained, abstract magic of his favorite Louis Armstrong recording.
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2 min
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As the first biographer to hear Louis Armstrong’s private tape recordings, the author of “Pops” discovered a side of the jazz genius the public never suspected.
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7 min
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“Pops” author Terry Teachout runs through his personal checklist of what makes a biography worth writing (hint: it’s the inner life that counts).
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3 min
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Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout doesn’t worry that blogs will kill professional criticism. But through his own blog (“About Last Night”), he’s learned how much they can help the […]
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5 min
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Critic Terry Teachout reveals the drama and music that moved him the most as a young man, and which is the more personal art form for him.
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4 min
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A conversation with the Wall Street Journal drama critic and author of “Pops.”
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38 min
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