Tracking the Changes of My Life Via a Survey of Constantly Changing Communicating Tools
By Elyse Sommer
My first writing tool was a fountain pen and the "platform" on which my scribblings landed was a sheet of paper.
Given my terrible handwriting, learning to punch out my words on a typewriter was more than a welcome change. That change also paralleled pivotal life changes: College . . . my first experience as a working woman . . . marriage and moves to living spaces that accommodated children . . . becoming my own boss as an agent for writers of romance magazine fiction.
Of the various typewriters I owned, I especially loved a handsome portable red Olivetti. My very first computer, the Kaypro, was a big green box with slits at each side for floppy disks for saving text. The Kaypro lingers in my memory like a first love.
To be sure, even though pen and ink was their only available writing tool, authors like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Leo Tolstoy managed to turn out many timeless novels. But while I've written no classic literary works, ever more sophisticated digital writing (and reading) tools have continued to parallel working and personal life changes for me.
In a way, this feature is a continuation of my last two blogspot features ( https://www.blogger.com). Naturally, the amazing digital advances come with plenty of pros and cons, no matter what one's age.
Major pros
My big personal pro of digital advances is that I was able to expand my theater coverage to areas beyond New York. The friendships with my trusty reviewers was a major added plus in addition to easily connecting with friends, relatives and co-workers anywhere. The digital age also brought conveniences that made working, going to school and using the library easier through access to a weightless shelf full of books available to you wherever you go.
There's also the pro of more readily available news and entertainment and using that ever-smarter phone to make and get calls as well as take photos. The not-so-golden aspects of getting older --weakened eyesight and hearing -- are offset by enlarged type on Kindle readers and being able to still have conversations courtesy of hearing aids hooked into that do-anything smartphone.
The inevitable cons
The cons are, of course, inevitable. Despite its convenience, email has turned from a stream of interesting-to-open-and-answer mail to a flood that includes junk and is often dangerous to click on. Then, there's the feeling of having to always be more meaningfully connected to friends and relatives. This constantly online life has also shortened attention spans and hobbled efforts to write creatively and colorfully.
Some successful writers -- like Stephen King, who no doubt can afford the most up-to-date and expensive digital tools -- complete at least their first drafts by hand. The manual input cuts down on distractions and allows King and his fellow scribes to feel more intimately in touch with their characters. John MacDonald, one of the mid-1900s most successful and prolific mystery writers, abandoned pen and ink but pounded out his novels and short stories on typewriter after typewriter.
Here's hoping that any new tools becoming available will help to make the world less beset with worrisome world events and benefit the cultural zeitgeist. The many theater productions being mounted now and the rest of this year and through the following year support optimism and also the sense of possibility -- the possibility that a few of these offerings will catch fire despite the high ticket prices necessitated by the ever-rising cost of putting on a show.
A Peek at Titles Set to Light Up Theater Marquees
As usual, the lineup of shows includes established hits that will succeed again thanks to star-powered casting. Naturally, that means at least one or two Shakespeare plays on or off Broadway. And sure enough, King Lear, starring Kenneth Branagh, is sure to further enhance the 2019-established Shed's reputation as one of New York's most prestigious cultural facilities. Given the real world's rise in anti-semitism, the East 13th Street Classic Stage's new look at The Merchant of Venice is likely to be timely even without star performances.
The fairy-tale sourced musical Once Upon a Mattress proved to be a Shakespeare-like gold mine since its 1952 debut (starring Carol Burnett) at the Variety Arts Theater on East 13th Street and later Broadway transfer. Now, producers have opted to recapture that ticket-selling magic by casting Sutton Foster in the lead. So far, so good. The revival's brief run at Encores has led to an extended run at Broadway's Hudson Theater, starting August 20, 2025.
The open run of Mattress was preceded by a month-long run of The Last Five Years. This small musical (two actors) also has been a hit thanks to its catchy Jason Robert Brown score and modest production costs. However, it's never been on Broadway. Now, with the need for entertaining, cost- effective shows, The Last Five Years will finally make it to The Great White Way in 2025.
Another intriguing revival is David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. Undoubtedly, producers hope it will restore Mamet's fading reputation (his last new play, The Penitent, was pretty much dead as it opened). The theater is not yet set, but the starry cast, headed by Kieran Culkin, is.
More iconic hits headed back to Broadway include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard as of September 28 at the St. James. Lloyd Webber is also working on a new musical, so maybe another super hit like Phantom is on the horizon. Other composers and playwrights have not spent the pandemic years like Rip Van Winkle. Thus, Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang will be at the newly renamed Todd Haimes Theatre from September 13 to November 24. Donald Margulies and Jeff Butterworth have also scripted new works. Margulies's two-character Lunar Eclipse will have an open run at Second Stage company's Off Broadway Tony Kiser Theater. Butterworth's The Hills of California is set for a 12-week run at Broadway's Broadhurst venue starting September 12th.
With audiences starved for a few hours of escape entertainment, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical is likely to fill seats when it opens at Studio 54 on November 11th.
Though several small theaters have bitten the dust, other downtown gems like the Mint, the Vineyard, and the Transport Group are soldiering on, presenting the kind of interesting work that has won them audiences.
To conclude, for sure there will be plenty of plays to make creative sense of the drama of our real world. Actually, a play about the Russian dictator whose attack on Ukraine is still raging is already on the boards. It's entitled -- what else? -- Vladimir and will debut at New York City Center Stage 1 on West Street starting September 24 and open on October 17. The play is set in Putin's first term. Sad to say, viewers will be seeing it with Putin in power for his fifth term and the focus on a reporter clutching to sanity would likely be doing so in prison.
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