“Speaking of the great jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald– Here was a Black woman popularizing urban songs often written by immigrant Jews to a national audience of predominantly white Christians.” InspirationalMusicBoundry Busting Author:Frank Rich
“One of the most persistent cultural tics of the early 21st century is Americans' reluctance to absorb, let alone prepare for, bad news.” CenturyNews21st CenturyPersistentBad NewsReluctanceTics Author:Frank Rich
“Nation editor Katrina van den Heuvel told me that the failure to adequately cover the Downing Street Memo epitomizes the timidity, the cowardice of a media that has been manipulated, intimidated, bullied by an administration that has taken it to a high level. . lapdog news media.” Has BeensNationsLevelsTakenStreetsMediaNewsAdministrationEditorsCowardiceVansIntimidatedBulliedHigh LevelTimidityKatrinaDensNews MediaMemosDowningDowning Street Author:Frank Rich
“The principal House sponsor (of the Defense of Marriage Act), Bob Barr of Georgia has been married three times--which raises the question of why the act doesn't contain a three-strikes-and-you're-out provision.” Has BeensThreeHouseMarriedRaisesDefenseStrikesBobPrincipalThree TimesProvisionGeorgiaSponsorsThree Strikes Author:Frank Rich
“The actor doesn't merely command the stage, he seems to own it by divine right.” SeemsActorsStageDivineCommandDivine Right Author:Frank Rich
“Yul Brynner's performance in "The King and I," . . . can no longer be regarded as a feat of acting or even endurance. After 30-odd . . . Mr Brynner is, quite simply, The King.” I CanActingKingsPerformancesOddEnduranceFeats Author:Frank Rich
“Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those 'good Germans' who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo.” Has BeensWarUseHumanityIgnoranceTacticsGestapo Author:Frank Rich
“To me, the fun part of both jobs is to always try to push the discussion and debate forward in some way. The most fun part of being a theater critic for the Times was always to try and champion something that maybe other people didn't like, or that was produced under obscure circumstances or had to fight for its life. And I would say in the column what I try to do is in some ways related in that I'm trying to fight for a point of view. I'm not trying to be a kingmaker in either job, and don't want to be, and shouldn't be.” PeopleWayWantTryingJobsFightingFunViewsCircumstancesTheaterCriticsPoint Of ViewDebateDiscussionChampionRelatedObscureColumns Author:Frank Rich
“The truth is that a lot of plays aren't political at all. In American theater history, political theater has tended to crop up when there's a crisis, a national crisis.” PlayPoliticalTruth IsTheaterCrisisCrops Author:Frank Rich
“If Obama needs to be criticized, I will criticize him. There's a tremendous amount of excitement about him. And a corollary of that is, as we're learning, from newspapers and magazines that are going into overdrive reprinting Obama editions, etc.” IfsNeedsAmountNewspapersMagazinesExcitementEtcCriticizeOverdrive Author:Frank Rich
“Someday we'll learn the whole story of why George W. Bush brushed off that intelligence briefing of Aug. 6, 2001, 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.' But surely a big distraction was the major speech he was readying for delivery on Aug. 9, his first prime-time address to the nation.” FirstsWholeStoriesBigsNationsSpeechMajorsDeterminedStrikesAddressesSomedayPrimeDistractionBin LadenDeliveryBriefingPrime Time Author:Frank Rich
“Americans have less and less patience for the intrusive and divisive moral scolds who thrived in the bubbles of the Clinton and Bush years.” YearsMoralClintonBubbles Author:Frank Rich
“What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them.” ChildrenSaidRealityTurnsHugeSpeechWaveCrowdsAlternativesFlagsBerlinAmerican Flag Author:Frank Rich
“There have been at least three other cases in which federal agencies have succeeded in placing fake news reports on television during the Bush presidency. It was a really good tour. It seemed maybe about a week too long.” PeopleLongHas BeensThreeCasesWeekTelevisionNewsFakeAgencyReportsPresidencyFake People Author:Frank Rich
“What are Americans still buying? Big Macs,Campbell's soup,Hershey's chocolate and Spam--the four food groups of the apocalypse.” StillsBigsFourGroupsBuyingChocolateSoupApocalypseMacsSpamBig MacHershey Author:Frank Rich
“The most wonderful street in the universe is Broadway. It is a world within itself. High and low, rich and poor, pass along at a rate peculiar to New York, and positively bewildering to a stranger.” WorldUniversePoorRichWonderfulStreetsNew YorkLowsRateStrangerPeculiarBroadwayPositivelyRich And PoorHighs And Lows Author:Frank Rich
“After 9/11, we realized that all these silly culture wars, and arguing about rock lyrics... who cares? You know, we, for some reason, remembered what our real problems are.” KnowsWarRealReasonProblemCareCultureRocksStupidArguingSillyRememberedWho CaresReal Problems Author:Frank Rich
“I grew up in Washington, D.C. But also loving the theater.” GrewGrew UpTheaterLoving Deeply Author:Frank Rich
“I'm always struck by the kids who turn up in New York and LA, and places in between. Chicago. Wanting to do theater, wanting to do independent film. Wanting to break into television or radio.” KidsFilmTurnsBreakNew YorkTelevisionTheaterIndependentRadioChicagoBreak UpIndependent Film Author:Frank Rich
“It is kind of tedious after a while, to parse politicians doing the same thing over and over again. The facts change from week to week, but the sort of masquerade doesn't.” KindFactsWeekPoliticianTediousMasquerade Author:Frank Rich
“When something really comes from the soul, I think it has a truth that you cannot find in politics.” ThinkingSoulPolitics Author:Frank Rich
“There’s nothing entertaining about watching goons hurl venomous slurs at congressmen like the civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank. How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht.” KnowsLittlesPresidentRightsHeroGayScalesCivil RightsCuriousPresident ObamaEntertainingFrankCongressmanSlursMimicryVenomousGoons Author:Frank Rich
“While F.D.R. once told Americans that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, Mr. Ashcroft is delighted to play the part of Fear Itself, an assignment in which he lets his imagination run riot.” PlayRunningImaginationDelightedRiotAssignments Author:Frank Rich
“Hollywood no longer depicts reporters in ruthless pursuit of criminals, high and low. Now they are the criminals.” LowsHollywoodCriminalsPursuitPropagandaReportersRuthlessHighs And Lows Author:Frank Rich
“The only truly shocking thing about last Tuesday's election is that the Democrats didn't do far worse, or as badly as they deserved.” LastsPoliticsElectionDemocratShockingTuesdayShocking Things Author:Frank Rich
