Show and Tell: New Yorker Profiles

Show and Tell: New Yorker Profiles compiles John Lahr's theatrical profiles written for The New Yorker magazine over three decades. The collection features in-depth portraits of actors, playwrights, directors, and other influential figures in theater. Lahr's profiles go beyond surface-level celebrity coverage to examine the craft, process, and inner workings of theater professionals. His subjects include Arthur Miller, Mike Nichols, Tony Kushner, Nathan Lane, and other key players who shaped American theater in the late 20th century. Each profile combines reportage, criticism, and biographical elements to capture both the public and private dimensions of these theatrical figures. Through extensive interviews and observations, Lahr documents their creative methods, career trajectories, and impact on the stage. The collection reveals the complex relationship between art and commerce in American theater, while exploring universal themes of identity, ambition, and the drive for creative expression. These profiles serve as both cultural history and character study.

Readers appreciate Lahr's theater expertise and insider knowledge that comes through in these New Yorker profiles. One reader noted his "perceptive eye for the telling detail" and ability to reveal layers of his subjects' personalities. Multiple reviews mention his in-depth portraits of Arthur Miller, David Mamet, and Mike Nichols as highlights. Some point to Lahr's skill at weaving historical context with personal anecdotes. Criticism focused on occasional name-dropping and tangential details that distract from the main subjects. A few readers felt certain profiles ran too long or included unnecessary information about Lahr's own experiences with the subjects. Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (28 ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (6 reviews) "These pieces feel like time capsules of American theater," wrote one Goodreads reviewer. Another noted: "Sometimes gets caught up in proving his own access and connections rather than focusing on his subjects."

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🎭 John Lahr served as the senior drama critic for The New Yorker from 1992 to 2013, following in the footsteps of his father, Bert Lahr, who was a legendary vaudeville performer and actor (most famous for playing the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz). 📝 The profiles collected in this book were written over twenty years and include intimate portraits of Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Tony Kushner, and other theatrical luminaries. 🏆 Lahr's biography of Tennessee Williams, "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh," won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography. 🎬 Many of the interviews in Show and Tell took place in the subjects' homes, offering readers rare glimpses into the private spaces and daily routines of celebrated artists. 📚 The book demonstrates Lahr's signature approach of combining traditional reporting with psychoanalytic insights, a method he developed through his own experience in psychoanalysis and his deep understanding of theatrical personalities.