A critic should always strive to recapture the sense of wonder and surprise with which he first beheld a now-familiar work of art. — Terry Teachout Copy Share Image
“One of the advantages of no longer being young is that you're expected to start making up your mind about certain things.” — Terry Teachout Copy Share Image
And Paul Moravec, not being a theater person, would always trust me when I said things that I am like, "you're going to need another 10 seconds of music year to get them across the stage." But I always knew that the people were going to be coming to hear his music of which my words are going to be… — Terry Teachout Copy Share
Direction is the most invisible part of the theatrical art. It's not like the conductor in the symphony orchestra performance because he's standing in front of you waiving his arms. You now what he's doing. You don't know what the director is doing unless you know a lot about theater and even then you can only deduce it. You know… — Terry Teachout Copy Share
We are born into a vast room whose walls consist of a thousand doors of possibility. Each door is flung open to the world… — Terry Teachout Copy Share Image
I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. Is the source material centralized? Is it easy to find? Are there new primary sources that no one has ever had access to? Are all the sources in English? If they're not, are they in a language that you speak? And I realized that not… — Terry Teachout Copy Share
Virgil Thomson, the great classical music critic, who was also a composer, but said that criticism was the only antidote he knew to pay publicity. Critics at their best are independent voices people take seriously their responsibility to see as many things as they can see, put them in the widest possible perspective, educate their readers, I really do think… — Terry Teachout Copy Share
Whether early or late, the Parker novels are all superlative literary entertainments. — Terry Teachout Copy Share Image
I know that luck has a way of happening to people who shoot high, who never sell themselves short. — Terry Teachout Copy Share Image
It's actually now, more common to see conceptual productions of Shakespearian, which Hamlet is played as a Nazi, or a homosexual, or whatever concept… — Terry Teachout Copy Share Image
(R)eality TV (is) a medium dedicated to the proposition that with the help of judicious editing, carefully chosen half-wits can hold the attention of… — Terry Teachout Copy Share Image
If I ever see another Shakespeare production where somebody drives a Jeep on stage, I'm going to run screaming up the aisle. These tend to be matters of design. I mean, we're seeing a lot of - it's very common to see Shakespeare with automatic weapons, things like that. They are clichés. They're new clichés, but they are clichés. And… — Terry Teachout Copy Share
The problem with the Jude Law "Hamlet" was simply that it wasn't unpredictable, that it was a very down-the-center modern production. You wouldn't go to the theater expecting to see an old-fashioned "Hamlet" where everybody wears an old fashioned costume. You don't get points for putting on a "Hamlet" where everybody dresses in black. I've seen that one several times.… — Terry Teachout Copy Share
