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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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01019014.000
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1990-09-17
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THEATER, Page 100BEST OF THE DECADE
A Life (1980). An austere civil servant, terminally ill, looks
back in anger on his self-thwarting days and sees, too late, that
he has been surrounded by decency and affection. Irish playwright
Hugh Leonard traced delicate and complex patterns of marriage,
friendship and that old indefinable, love.
Nicholas Nickleby (1981). An 812-hour joyride through the
thrills and terrors of Dickens' novel, magnificently captured by
the Royal Shakespeare Company. The show alarmed audiences with its
$100 ticket price but turned out to be the entertainment bargain
of a lifetime.
Dreamgirls (1981). Michael Bennett, creator of A Chorus Line,
shaped this propulsive story of black entertainers fighting for
integrity while entering the mainstream. It suggested that key
civil rights gains came when white youths accepted black music as
"theirs." Jennifer Holliday gave the musical performance of the
decade as a gutsy gospel-blues shouter.
Big River (1985). This winsome adaptation of The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn celebrated the frontier in music and lyrics by
Roger Miller, a wistful lamenter of the lost open road. Designed
and staged with shrewd simplicity, it glowed with sentiment: when
Huck and the runaway slave Jim got onto the river, they lit cigars
-- and ignited a skyful of stars.
Broadway Bound (1986). Jokemeister Neil Simon became a poignant
and self-critical artist in a trilogy of which this final
installment, the tale of his start in show business, was the
darkest, most honest and best. The scene of Simon dancing in the
living room with his mother, encouraging her to recall the one
glorious moment of a mostly lousy life, lingers and lingers.
Les Miserables (1987). Victor Hugo's tale of the downtrodden
and a doomed revolution electrified 19th century Europe. Set to an
emotion-drenched score and given a nonpareil staging, it has
stirred audiences all over the late 20th century world.
The Road to Mecca (1987). South Africa's conscience, Athol
Fugard, proved his compassion is universal in this Ibsenesque
conflict between a fiercely independent artist and a society justly
yearning for order.
Into the Woods (1987). Stephen Sondheim's best musical was
gorgeous to look at, haunting to hear and thought provoking to
remember. A fractured fairy tale that brought into the same forest
Cinderella, Rapunzel and the like, it asked what comes after
happily-ever-after, pondering what it means to grow up.
The Piano Lesson (1989). An heirloom from a slave ancestor
threatens to sunder members of the Charles clan: one wants to keep
it as a reminder of suffering, another would sell it to buy the
farm where the family were once chattel. Playwright August Wilson
was the most important American stage voice to emerge in the '80s,
and this piano is the most potent symbol in American drama since
Laura Wingfield's glass menagerie.
Love Letters (1989). Sly and genial chronicler of Wasp foibles
in The Dining Room and The Cocktail Hour, A.R. Gurney went for gut
emotion in this story of a half-century relationship told solely
in letters. Weekly changes of cast (Jason Robards, Colleen
Dewhurst, Swoosie Kurtz, Richard Thomas) demonstrate, despite
individual triumphs, that the play's the thing.