George Bernard Shaw

"I tried to see it myself once and nearly died of it," George Bernard Shaw said of his play, "Man and Superman." A tough work to produce -- though definitely one of Shaw's best -- the four-act comedy is often staged without its lengthy third-act dream sequence.That sequence, which goes by the title, "Don Juan in Hell," has frequently been staged alone, perhaps most famously in a production that toured for two years in the early 1950s starring Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton, Cedric Hardwicke and Agnes Moorehead.

In a telling speech near the end of George Bernard Shaw's Candida, the title character describes herself as her husband's wife, mother and sisters -- all in one. Deborah Hazlett handily portrays a woman capable of this multiplicity of roles in Everyman Theatre's season-ending production. Shaw, personally, was no stranger to romantic triangles, and that is the setup he presented in this fin-de-siecle comedy. A young poet -- the latest "discovery" of a happily married clergyman -- falls in love with the minister's wife, Candida.

Elsewhere Dame Wendy Hiller , 90, one of Britain's finest actresses and George Bernard Shaw's chosen leading lady, died Wednesday in Beaconsfield, England. She achieved fame early in her career as a girl from the slums in the 1934 Manchester Repertory production of Love on the Dole. Following her appearance in Anthony Asquith's film version of Pygmalion, Ms. Hiller starred in 1941 in Mr. Shaw's Major Barbara. She won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in Separate Tables (1958)

The piano is "the most important of all musical instruments," George Bernard Shaw declared. "Its invention was to music what the invention of printing was to poetry." You won't get too many arguments with that, certainly not next weekend, when the Shriver Hall Concert Series marks its 40th anniversary with a tightly packed "Piano Celebration." PIANO CELEBRATION / / Friday through April 9 / / Shriver Hall, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St. / / 410-516-7164

George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950)A native of Dublin, Shaw championed the causes of socialism and vegetarianism among others; he expressed his theories in his writing.Shaw's fame across the globe gave him the freedom to speak and write freely. His name first became popular in connection with his music reviews. Shaw later wrote plays but his creations were too often censored or refused production. He then turned to writing plays that were to be read.He died at the age of 94 while at work on a comedy.

The piano is "the most important of all musical instruments," George Bernard Shaw declared. "Its invention was to music what the invention of printing was to poetry." You won't get too many arguments with that, certainly not next weekend, when the Shriver Hall Concert Series marks its 40th anniversary with a tightly packed "Piano Celebration." PIANO CELEBRATION / / Friday through April 9 / / Shriver Hall, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St. / / 410-516-7164

"Smash," Jeffrey Hatcher's loose adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's rather obscure 1883 novel, "The Unsocial Socialist," opens at Fell's Point Corner Theatre tomorrow. The play focuses on a die-hard Marxist millionaire who abandons his bride at the altar to re-invent himself as a laborer at a women's college.Directed by Tony Gallahan, this production stars Rich Espey as millionaire Sidney Trefusis, Melissa Blue as his abandoned bride, and Gwyn Hervochon as the school rebel.Show times at Fell's Point Corner Theatre, 251 S. Ann St., are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 29. Tickets are $10 and $11. Call 410-276-7837.

Theatre Hopkins opens its season tomorrow night with George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan." Under Suzanne Pratt's direction, Gina Braden heads the cast as the martyred Joan of Arc, whose unrelenting ideals threatened both the church and feudal society. Featured actors include Donald Hart, J.R. Lyston, Ralph Piersant and Josh Shoemaker.Here's the rest of the Theatre Hopkins season: Feb. 20-March 15, 1998, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"; April 17-May 17, 1998, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"; June 19-July 12, 1998, "Picnic."

In a telling speech near the end of George Bernard Shaw's Candida, the title character describes herself as her husband's wife, mother and sisters -- all in one. Deborah Hazlett handily portrays a woman capable of this multiplicity of roles in Everyman Theatre's season-ending production. Shaw, personally, was no stranger to romantic triangles, and that is the setup he presented in this fin-de-siecle comedy. A young poet -- the latest "discovery" of a happily married clergyman -- falls in love with the minister's wife, Candida.

George Bernard Shaw thought the German Requiem by Brahms was so "execrably and ponderously dull that the very flattest of funerals would seem like a ballet, or at least a danse macabre, after it." Shaw, whose literary and humorous flair made him the most entertaining music critic of Victorian England (he still can't be beat for style), tried to put one more nail into the score's coffin by declaring that it could be "patiently borne only by the corpse." Few listeners agreed with the critic's relentless assaults on Brahms or the German Requiem, which has been widely embraced as a sublime masterpiece since its premiere in 1868.

Talk is action in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, and in Misalliance, the character of Hypatia is so fed up with "talk, talk, talk, talk," she yearns for "adventures to drop out of the sky," as her father puts it. That's exactly what happens in this 1910 comedy, which Shaw subtitled, "A Debate in One Act," and which, divided into two acts, is receiving a ripping, lively production under Irene Lewis' direction at Center Stage. Set at the country home of a successful, self-made underwear manufacturer, Misalliance allows Shaw to expound at length on the nature of marriage and relationships between parents and children, as well as his usual topics, such as socialism and feminism.

Elsewhere Dame Wendy Hiller , 90, one of Britain's finest actresses and George Bernard Shaw's chosen leading lady, died Wednesday in Beaconsfield, England. She achieved fame early in her career as a girl from the slums in the 1934 Manchester Repertory production of Love on the Dole. Following her appearance in Anthony Asquith's film version of Pygmalion, Ms. Hiller starred in 1941 in Mr. Shaw's Major Barbara. She won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in Separate Tables (1958)

George Bernard Shaw thought the German Requiem by Brahms was so "execrably and ponderously dull that the very flattest of funerals would seem like a ballet, or at least a danse macabre, after it." Shaw, whose literary and humorous flair made him the most entertaining music critic of Victorian England (he still can't be beat for style), tried to put one more nail into the score's coffin by declaring that it could be "patiently borne only by the corpse." Few listeners agreed with the critic's relentless assaults on Brahms or the German Requiem, which has been widely embraced as a sublime masterpiece since its premiere in 1868.

"I tried to see it myself once and nearly died of it," George Bernard Shaw said of his play, "Man and Superman." A tough work to produce -- though definitely one of Shaw's best -- the four-act comedy is often staged without its lengthy third-act dream sequence.That sequence, which goes by the title, "Don Juan in Hell," has frequently been staged alone, perhaps most famously in a production that toured for two years in the early 1950s starring Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton, Cedric Hardwicke and Agnes Moorehead.

George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950)A native of Dublin, Shaw championed the causes of socialism and vegetarianism among others; he expressed his theories in his writing.Shaw's fame across the globe gave him the freedom to speak and write freely. His name first became popular in connection with his music reviews. Shaw later wrote plays but his creations were too often censored or refused production. He then turned to writing plays that were to be read.He died at the age of 94 while at work on a comedy.

"Smash," Jeffrey Hatcher's loose adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's rather obscure 1883 novel, "The Unsocial Socialist," opens at Fell's Point Corner Theatre tomorrow. The play focuses on a die-hard Marxist millionaire who abandons his bride at the altar to re-invent himself as a laborer at a women's college.Directed by Tony Gallahan, this production stars Rich Espey as millionaire Sidney Trefusis, Melissa Blue as his abandoned bride, and Gwyn Hervochon as the school rebel.Show times at Fell's Point Corner Theatre, 251 S. Ann St., are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 29. Tickets are $10 and $11. Call 410-276-7837.

STAGE GEORGE Bernard Shaw's ''Candida'' without care, and you run the risk of losing your audience. Do it as well as Center Stage is doing it, and you're likely to please everybody.Do the play carelessly, and the minister will end up a blundering bore. Do his wife carelessly, and she may wind up being unsympathetic, even irritating. Do Marchbanks off key, and he can be impossible.At Center Stage, all the leading players are on key. Richard Poe, as Rev. Morell, is righteous without being pompous.

Tom Ewell. the wry-faced comedy actor who stood next to Marilyn Monroe when a blast of air blew her skirt up in the famous scene from the movie "The Seven Year Itch," died yesterday in Los Angeles. He was 85.Mr. Ewell, who had been staying at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in suburban Woodland Hills, died after a long series of illnesses, said his wife, Marjorie.Born Yewell Tompkins on April 29, 1909, in Owensboro, Ky., he defied his family by abandoning his law studies for acting.

Theatre Hopkins opens its season tomorrow night with George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan." Under Suzanne Pratt's direction, Gina Braden heads the cast as the martyred Joan of Arc, whose unrelenting ideals threatened both the church and feudal society. Featured actors include Donald Hart, J.R. Lyston, Ralph Piersant and Josh Shoemaker.Here's the rest of the Theatre Hopkins season: Feb. 20-March 15, 1998, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"; April 17-May 17, 1998, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"; June 19-July 12, 1998, "Picnic."

Near the end of "The Best of Friends," one of the play's three characters says: "I declare friendship to be the most precious thing in life." It would be difficult to come up with firmer, more heartwarming proof than this epistolary drama by Hugh Whitemore.Olney Theatre Center got what might have been considered a bad break with this play. Undoubtedly the theater wasn't aware when scheduling it that the television version -- starring Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller -- would air on Maryland Public Television shortly before the start of the Olney run.But some of the best praise I can give Olney's "Best of Friends" and director John Going is that, despite its considerably longer length, the production holds up in comparison.