Covering a span of more than three decades, it includes previously published work from New York, the Hudson Review, National Review, Opera News, the New Leader, and other notable publications.The theatre volume contains selected reviews that are as eloquent as they are famously provocative-reviews that can enrage but always entertain. Simon covers a wide range of New York productions, from the East Village to Broadway, examining all with the same rigor and high expectations.A SAMPLE: Simon on Vanessa Redgrave in Long Day's Journey into Night: "The highly accomplished Redgrave gets some details right, but the overarching mental unstableness she exudes is so excessive as to make one wonder whether she is playing or being unhinged."
John Simon is, along with Robert Brustein and Stanley Kauffmann, one of America's three greatest drama critics, and my personal favorite. I've learned an enormous amount from him over the years. If you're willing to do so, you will too.