David Hockney’s current London exhibition “Some Very, Very, Very New Paintings Not Yet Shown in Paris” is the most joyous oasis of beauty. A whole flock of glorious paintings so fresh they’ve barely had time to dry. Makes your heart sing. www.annelyjudafineart.co.uk/exhibitions/...

I have now, and he is darling.

"Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life," at the Courtauld Gallery in London, is undiluted joy.

NY is having a bad flu season. More hospitalizations last week than any week on record. Health authorities are encouraging everyone aged 6mo+ to get the flu vax (it's not too late). Find a provider here: on.nyc.gov/getvaccinated. You can filter for sites where there's no cost for the uninsured.

Edward Hopper, Christmas card, 1928 whitney.org/collection/w...

"I've been toiling quite hard recently because I was full of Christmas feeling. I’m now occupied with two large heads of a man with white beard & top hat. This chap has the sort of old, lively face that one would wish for beside a cozy Christmas fire." Vincent van Gogh to brother Theo, Dec. 22 1882

Keith Haring, The Nativity, subway drawing, c. 1983

Here is a piece I wrote a few years ago that is meant to be read aloud to dogs as they are seated in the glow of holiday related lights. It is, for dogs, a seasonal tale of HOPE AND RENEWAL. And it is about my dog Lewis. open.substack.com/pub/merrillm...

My daughter was in the Brown University library, hiding under the desk | Sarah Ruhl

Not sure about craziest archive story but this has to be one of my favorite archival documents ever, a note from abstract painter Jules Olitski to his wife Joan re: a favorite TV program: "Darling, EMERGENCY!!! I forgot to watch Judge Judy. Don't tape over Judy!" www.si.edu/object/AAADC...

This essay by Robin Givhan is about fashion, but it works, too, as an analysis of the ways that our algorithm-fueled world hampers curiosity, dreaming, self-discovery — and the “appetite to be discerning.” I see applications to journalism, for sure. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/o...

Google AI just told me that Jennifer Senior wrote “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”. When I followed up, asking why it thought so when I’d written absolutely nothing by this name, it basically said, Oops, our mistake, turns out that’s a Prince song. We are so doomed

Was informed at post office that October was the correct time to buy holiday stamps. Good to know.

Sometimes shows don't translate when they cross the ocean because they've left their (political/cultural/historical/emotional) context at home. And sometimes critics expect Unimpeachable Greatness from an imported hit when that was never, ever the reason it landed so well originally.

The Kennedy Center name is established by federal statute, and therefore may be repealed only by federal statute. www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...

Exceptionally meta-Upper West Side to go to a small show one block down from the building that plays the Arconia on TV and Steve Martin is in the audience.

The world is doing its best to be ugly, but beauty has a habit of asserting itself. I ran into this annual puppet procession just by luck.

Don't steal pies this Christmas.

This rich, provocative story by Michael Paulson is occasionally quite breathtaking in its industry snark: “‘We actually like our people,’ said Mark Clements, the artistic director in Milwaukee. ‘We’re not trying to be didactic and lecture people.’” (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/t...

On “Anna Christie” at St. Ann’s Warehouse. (My unmentioned theory of Mat Burke, given the way he boards the barge in this production, is that he’s a selkie.) (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/t...

I love love love that “Lobster” made the cut.

Each semester I go in my classroom and I try to figure out what we would use to block the doors, if it would be safe to crawl out the windows, where we could hide if there was a mass shooter in campus. It’s such an indictment of this country how we have normalized these preventable tragedies.

Violinist playing on this moving A train. It's beautiful, but also: *How* the accuracy on a train that's in rumbly, shaky motion??

A bunch of enticing ideas here. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

When audiences don’t flock to a show that’s been widely praised, they have their reasons. But, man, Laurie Metcalf in “Little Bear Ridge Road” is a *force*. What a thrilling performance.

I recommend turning the sound on to hear the music in the very pretty video of the handbell carol, and just letting it repeat and repeat. Extremely relaxing.

“I want people to be able to find themselves in the story, which is what I always hope for all revivals, but especially holiday revivals,” Kenny Leon says. “We need to be able to find ourselves in it.” (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/t...

Best theater moments of 2025. Fun to write, fun to read. By Elisabeth Vincentelli, Alexis Soloski and me. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/t...

Until tonight I don’t think I’d ever seen a cast-change program slip that looked like a real celebration, a welcome to the person stepping into a role. Red Bull Theater has done this so right, priming us to savor Raphael Nash Thompson’s terrific performance that much more.

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

Every time I’ve seen “Marjorie Prime,” I have loved the son-in-law, Jon: first Frank Wood’s incarnation, then Stephen Root’s, now Danny Burstein’s. Beautiful performances all.

If we’re all doing pull-ups at the airport now, aren’t we leaving our bags unattended?

Reading the news and wishing “Here There Are Blueberries” were playing somewhere 24 hours a day, live, so people could pop in the way you might pop into a church when things are just too dire. I would hop on the subway immediately.

It takes such meticulous care and thoughtfulness to stage a show well and welcomingly in the round. You have to really mean it.

I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began

I COULD NOT BE MORE PUMPED www.nytco.com/press/helen-...

An eco obscenity: Norman Foster’s steroidal new skyscraper is an affront to the New York skyline

(gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/t...

Nathan Lane in a long arduous marriage with Laurie Metcalf should really be its own separate play. I can imagine a totally different story for these 2.

There’s a real art to writing a fundraising letter. My favorite from today’s e-blast deluge is by Lucas Hedges, who slips the pleasing phrase “I was a tomato in the garden of Baryshnikov“ into his pitch on behalf of Baryshnikov Arts.

Latest @theguardian.com cartoon #PaddingtonTheMusical www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Plenty of notable non-holiday-related shows happening Off Broadway and beyond this month. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/t...

This essay is invaluable. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/d...

I had to leave a beautiful thing that Tim Curry said about Stoppard on the cutting-room floor. To Curry, the payoff of properly honoring the brilliance of Stoppard’s language in performance is the joy of the audience: “You can almost see them reaching up their hands in the air to catch a sentence.”

Artists remember Tom Stoppard. By Jesse Green and Michael Paulson, with one contribution from me. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/t...

“Pay attention to the patterns of power grabs, infighting, the disintegration of the rule of law. See Macbeth. And I, Claudius. And the wealth and power imbalances just before the French Revolution. And yes, read Nineteen Eighty-Four. Again.”

“Last Candle” is a Jill Sobule original she wrote among songs for the stageplay “Yentl.” She taught us this music when Isle of Klezbos performed for the project a decade ago. We share this tribute from 6/24/2025 at Joe’s Pub, dedicated as a memorial to Jill (with her own intro) youtu.be/SImrCOCtODg

It’s hard to set audience expectations for a biographical show when it’s non-hagiographic in the extreme but the subjects are involved in its making.