Cultural critic Terry Teachout is remembered as 'unafraid of being human in public'

Cultural critic Terry Teachout is remembered as ‘unafraid of being human in public’

]

One of the great cultural critics of the past half-century has died. Terry Teachout was an acclaimed author, a jazz connoisseur, a dance scholar and a drama critic for the Wall Street Journal. The paper reported that Teachout died on Thursday at a friend’s home in Smithtown, N.Y. He was 65 years old.

A genial, cosmopolitan writer with a learned but accessible style, Teachout was born and raised near Missouri’s bootheel, in the southeast part of the state. He remembered growing up as the musical-theater-loving son of a hardware salesman in his 1991 memoir, City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy.

Sailing off to the East Coast to begin his liberal arts education, Teachout soon found undergraduate life at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., too stressful and himself, in his own words, too immature. He returned “to do the rest of my growing up under the watchful gaze of comforting, certain, all-knowing midwestern eyes,” he wrote. He graduated from William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., in 1970, and scraped together a living as a bank teller in Kansas City, gigging as a jazz bassist and beginning to write jazz reviews.

Once Teachout finally made it to Manhattan, he enjoyed the status of both an insider and an outsider. He was both an editor at Harper’s magazine and the founder of a salon for New York conservatives called Vile Body. And he steadily begin accruing bylines in the New York Daily News, Commentary and The Washington Post and NPR, and writing acclaimed biographies of H.L. Mencken, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and George Balanchine.

Nate Chinen, who writes about jazz for NPR, says he was dazzled by Teachout’s breadth. “So many critics are specialists, and that’s where they get their authority,” he told NPR. “[Teachout] was able to write with authority, insight and perceptiveness about so many art styles, forms and disciplines. And he did so with a real clarity of opinion.”

“There was nobody around who also covered jazz, rock, pop, classical music, dance, ballet, film, books and any other medium that came along the way Terry did,” Washington Post music critic Tim Page added in an email to NPR. “His tastes tended conservative but he could often be convinced and nobody was more cheerful about changing his mind. Above all, he was the sort of friend with whom you could have an argument that remained always within the bounds of love.”

Teachout’s more conservative opinions were not always popular among his fellow arts critics. “But he brought a real palpable genuine enthusiasm,” Chinen recalls with affection. “And when you did disagree with Terry Teachout, he welcomed the exchange, the dialogue. Especially in our social media age, disagreement feels like combat, but Terry kept alive the spirit of critical discourse in an old Algonquin Round Table way. He really thrived on an exchange of ideas.”

In his blog, About Last Night, on the website ArtsJournal.com, and on his lively Twitter feed, Teachout kept that exchange going. Not only did Teachout write about literature, opera, politics and his unexpected fandom of Steely Dan and avant-garde composer John Cage, he chronicled his pain over the 2020 death of his wife Hilary, and his shouting joy in a new relationship. Arts Twitter erupted in mourning upon news of his death.

He was “unafraid of being human in public,” Chinen said. “That’s why so many people are responding to his loss.”

Odds & Ends: Watch Ariana DeBose Tease Saturday Night Live with Jack Antonoff and Bowen Yang

]

Here’s a quick roundup of stories you might have missed recently.

Gear Up for Ariana DeBose on Saturday Night Live

Live from New York, it’s almost Saturday night! As previously announced, West Side Story Golden Globe winner, Tony nominee and former Broadway.com vlogger Ariana DeBose will host Saturday Night Live’s first episode of 2022 on January 15. The musical guest will be Bleachers, fronted by five-time Grammy winner Jack Antonoff. DeBose joined Antonoff and SNL’s Bowen Yang for a fun promo ahead of the big night. Check it out below!

Danielle Brooks Ties the Knot

Tony nominee Danielle Brooks announced her marriage to Dennis Gelin on January 13. According to Vogue, they met during a game night she hosted with a friend. The couple, who live in Brooklyn, were wed in Miami. Their two-year-old daughter served as the flower girl, and Broadway alums Jeremy Pope and Amber Iman sang “A Thousand Years” and “We Will Never Break” as the bride and groom walked down the aisle. Take a peek at Brooks’ dresses (yes, plural!) from the big day below!

WSJ’s Terry Teachout Dies at 65

Terry Teachout, who served as the Wall Street Journal’s drama critic and cultural columnist for nearly 20 years, died at a friend’s home in Smithtown, New York on January 14 at the age of 65. Born on February 6, 1956 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Teachout graduated from William Jewell College in Liberty in 1970. He began writing jazz reviews in addition to serving as both a jazz bassist and a bank teller in Kansas City. In addition to WSJ, Teachout wrote for The New York Daily News, Commentary, The Washington Post. He also penned biographies of H.L. Mencken, George Balanchine, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong as well as Satchmo at the Waldorf, a solo show about Armstrong that played off-Broadway and win an Outer Critics Circle Award for performer John Douglas Thompson. Teachout’s books ialso ncluded his memoir City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy. He served as a co-host on Three on the Aisle, a monthly podcast hosted by American Theatre magazine, which ran from September 2017 to December 2021. He was married to Hilary Teachout from 2007 until her death 2020 and began a relationship with Cheril Mulligan in June 2021.

Wake Up With BWW 1/14: ANYTHING GOES With Sutton Foster Comes to US Cinemas, and More!

]

Click Here for More Articles on WAKE UP WITH BROADWAYWORLD

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Scroll down for the latest news.

Today’s top stories include Anything Goes, starring Sutton Foster, coming to US cinemas! The filmed London production will stream in theaters across America for two days only this March!

Plus, original Broadway cast member Jonathan Freeman will play his final performance as Jafar in Aladdin on Sunday, January 23, 2022. Dennis Stowe will assume the role beginning Tuesday, January 25.

Read more about these and other top stories below!

Want our morning reports delivered via email? Subscribe here!

Today’s Top Stories

ANYTHING GOES Starring Sutton Foster Comes to US Cinemas in March

by Stephi Wild

Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster and directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall, will be screened across the US for two days only on Sunday, March 27 and Wednesday, March 30 in a live recording filmed at London’s renowned Barbican Theatre. . (more…)

HAMILTON Announces March 20 Closing In Los Angeles; Will Re-Open February 9th

by BWW Staff

Producer Jeffrey Seller has announced that the Los Angeles production of HAMILTON will conclude its more than 6-month engagement at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on Sunday, March 20, 2022. Performances began on Tuesday, August 17, 2021; this was the second HAMILTON production in the world to reopen after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, select performances of the Los Angeles production were cancelled upon discovery of COVID-19 breakthrough cases backstage.. (more…)

Dennis Stowe Will Play Jafar in ALADDIN From January 25

by Stephi Wild

Tony Award® nominee and original Broadway cast member Jonathan Freeman will play his final performance as Jafar in Disney’s hit musical Aladdin on Sunday, January 23, 2022. Current Jafar/Sultan standby and fellow original Broadway cast member Dennis Stowe will assume the role beginning Tuesday, January 25. . (more…)

Drama Critic and Playwright Terry Teachout Dies at Age 65

by A.A. Cristi

Terry Teachout, biographer, playwright, director, and drama critic for The Wall Street Journal, has passed away. He was 65 years old. . (more…)

VIDEO: Sir Tim Rice Talks BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and More

by Stephi Wild

The 5th Avenue Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director Bill Berry recently sat down to chat with lyricist Sir Tim Rice about his career and what makes Disney’s Beauty and the Beast such a perennial piece of musical theater.. (more…)

JUNGLE RUMBLE Comes to the West End Next Month

by Stephi Wild

Jungle Rumble, a new family musical featuring an inspirational message about working together to protect the Earth, will run this half term from 14 to 20 February 2022 at The Fortune Theatre in London’s Covent Garden. . (more…)

John Earl Jelks Joins the Cast of BIRTHDAY CANDLES on Broadway

by Chloe Rabinowitz

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced complete casting of the New York premiere of Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle, directed by Vivienne Benesch.. (more…)

VIDEO: Rachel Tucker & Guy Retallack Talk JOHN & JEN on Backstage with Richard Ridge

by Backstage With Richard Ridge

Broadway is back and BroadwayWorld is bringing you all of the interviews you crave with your favorite Broadway stars! Richard Ridge is keeping up with all of their latest projects on Backstage Live, bringing you in-depth interviews weekly. Below, watch as he chats with husband and wife, Rachel Tucker and Guy Retallack.. (more…)

Broadway Birthdays

A Happy Birthday shout-out to Julia Murney, who turns 53 today!

Julia Murney last appeared on Broadway as Elphaba in Wicked after playing the role on the national tour for which she received an Acclaim Award. Other New York credits include Lennon, The Wild Party (Drama Desk nomination), The Vagina Monologues, Falling (Drama Desk nomination), A Class Act, The Landing, Saved, Crimes of the Heart, Queen of the Mist, and Time and Again (Lucille Lortel nomination). She’s been seen regionally all over the U.S.- Signature, Muny, Williamstown, Reprise!LA, Sacramento Music Circus, NCT, Lyric, Rubicon and Goodspeed, to name a few-and in concert she has performed solo shows nationally as well as in NYC at Feinstein’s/54 Below, Birdland, Joe’s Pub & Ars Nova. Symphony appearances have ranged from Carnegie Hall to The Kennedy Center, Caramoor to Town Hall, from Malaysia to Maui & a lot of spots in between. Among her TV credits are Madam Secretary, 30 Rock, Sex and the City, Elementary, Brothers and Sisters, Ed, NYPD Blue, all the Law and Orders, First You Dream and about a gazillion voiceovers. A Syracuse University graduate, her recordings include the original cast albums of The Wild Party and A Class Act, the Grammy nominated Actor’s Fund Benefit of Hair and her first solo album I’m Not Waiting, which is available on iTunes & on her website, juliamurney.com.

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!

POLITICO Playbook: Bill and Hillary peek their heads out

]

POLITICO Playbook: Bill and Hillary peek their heads out Presented by

People close to Bill and Hillary Clinton said the former first couple sees this moment as an opportunity to insert themselves back into political life. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

DRIVING THE DAY

SENATE SKIPS TOWN — Just before 10 p.m. Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER ditched plans to keep the Senate in town through the weekend in order to meet an MLK Day deadline to pass voting rights legislation. He cited an expected snowstorm in D.C. on Sunday/Monday. The Senate will return Tuesday to take up voting rights and a potential rules change.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A MISERABLE WEEKEND — At least for Democrats. President JOE BIDEN’s Thursday visit to the Senate yielded no movement from the two senators who matter, JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.). If anything, the two looked more dug in afterward. (They also met with Biden at the White House in the evening.) Burgess Everett, Marianne LeVine and Laura Barrón-López have a great inside-the-room account of Biden’s meeting with Senate Dems, and his exchange with Manchin in particular.

BOOKMARK IT — Zach Montellaro has a handy explainer on what’s in and out of the Dems’ latest voting rights mega-bill (clocking in at 735 pages!).

CAN THE CLINTONS CLAW BACK TO RELEVANCE? — With the Democratic Party on course for a devastating midterm election and party elder statesmen stepping in to help, people close to BILL and HILLARY CLINTON said the former first couple sees it as an opportunity to insert themselves back into political life.

The intra-party divisions have given them a chance to flex their centrist, dealmaking brand of politics as a way to move the party forward.

Bill Clinton has relished the opportunity to whip on behalf of the White House. In addition to pressing Manchin on the filibuster, Clinton suggested that he should salvage Build Back Better by zeroing in on the few elements the West Virginia senator really wants.

“I told Joe, ‘Break it up, pick one or two [pieces] you can swallow and then run on the rest,’” Clinton recalled of their phone call, a person with knowledge of the conversation told Playbook. The idea is drawing interest among party leadership.

Clinton also spoke with Sinema recently, according to one of the people familiar with the call, and said afterward, “I don’t know her, but I like her.”

At the same time, multiple people tell me and Daniel Lippman that the Clinton Global Initiative is strongly considering bringing back its annual star-studded confab scheduled around the U.N. General Assembly. Amid questions about conflicts of interest, CGI announced in 2016 that it would be holding its last annual conference.

The following year, Bill Clinton symbolically handed off the event to MIKE BLOOMBERG, who launched the “Bloomberg Global Business Forum.” Those close to the Clintons say that CGI lost its relevance without its biggest event. Now people familiar with the Clintons’ thinking said they are close to making a final decision on whether to bring back the annual meeting in September.

Another factor that motivated Bill Clinton to get more engaged: the low ratings and muted public reaction to “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” the FX show produced by MONICA LEWINSKY, according to a long-time bundler for the couple.

“It’s a perpetual itch that will never go away,” a person close to the couple said of the draw to public life. “They know how to slowly reenter. The Clintons want to reset the board in their favor and then move the pieces.”

As for Hillary Clinton, two people from Clinton world described pollster DOUG SCHOEN’s op-ed in the WSJ this week floating a 2024 run as a “gift” to her. Even though the people said there’s no chance she runs for president again, the attention allows her to gauge public reaction as she sets her sights on reemerging in lower-profile ways, like campaigning during the midterms or taking on policy fights.

“She’s bored,” the longtime Clinton bundler said of the former secretary of State, senator and first lady, who’s now hosting a MasterClass on “the power of resilience.”

The Clintons, the bundler added, “don’t want to be pariahs anymore. It’s less about being kingmakers and more about being relevant and people seeing them as a net positive, not a net negative.”

Schoen, who last worked for the Clintons in 2000, told Playbook he hasn’t spoken to the couple in years.

A message from the Freedom to Vote Alliance: A strong economy depends on a strong democracy. But the cornerstone of our democratic system – the freedom to vote – is under attack. States nationwide are making it harder to cast ballots and easier for partisan officials to overturn election results. For businesses to prosper, our basic rights must be protected. The Freedom to Vote Alliance is calling on the Senate to reform its rules and give voting rights legislation a straight up or down vote.

SINEMA PRIMARY CHALLENGE MORE LIKELY — Rep. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-Ariz.) isn’t just firing off fighting words against Sinema from the House floor. A person close to the congressman said he’s gearing up to primary the moderate senator in 2024. As progressive groups rally behind Gallego, urging him to “Run Ruben Run,” Gallego has taken serious steps in recent months, such as hiring fundraiser TAYLOR HENNINGS (who’s worked for Virginia Sen. TIM KAINE and TERRY MCAULIFFE in the past), consulting with national donors and conducting polling.

Happy Friday, and thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

‘THE MAITRE D’ OF D.C.’ — What does it take to unify lawmakers and decision-makers in Washington? Ryan sits down with STEVE CLEMONS, editor at large of The Hill, to talk about bringing D.C. power players together and being Manchin’s confidant. Listen and subscribe to Playbook Deep Dive

WORTH YOUR TIME — Our White House editor Sam Stein has a moving story for POLITICO Magazine this morning about BRIAN WALLACH, who was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 37, on the day his newborn daughter came home from the hospital. Given six months to live, he set out on a campaign to help others with the disease. It culminated on Dec. 23, when Biden signed into law the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act, or ACT for ALS. Stein has spoken with Wallach off and on for three years.

A message from the Freedom to Vote Alliance:

BIDEN’S FRIDAY:

— 10 a.m.: The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief.

— 12:30 p.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on infrastructure in the South Court Auditorium.

— 6 p.m.: Biden will depart the White House en route to Wilmington, Del., where he is scheduled to arrive at 6:55 p.m.

VP KAMALA HARRIS’ FRIDAY — The VP will ceremonially swear in RUFUS GIFFORD to be chief of protocol at 10:20 a.m.

Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 11:45 a.m. with FEMA Administrator DEANNE CRISWELL.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

President Joe Biden addresses the press after meeting with Senate Democrats on the Hill on Thursday. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

PLAYBOOK READS

THE WHITE HOUSE

ANOTHER BLOW — The Supreme Court blocked Biden’s vaccine mandate for private businesses with 100 or more employees, a requirement that would require employees to get vaccinated or test negative regularly and wear a mask, AP’s Mark Sherman and Jessica Gresko report. “The court’s conservative majority concluded the administration overstepped its authority” with the mandate. In a separate ruling, the court allowed a vaccine mandate for health care workers to stand.

GIRDING FOR A BBB-LESS MIDTERM — With Biden’s Build Back Better package at a standstill in Congress, Democrats are gearing up for a midterm election without it, Christopher Cadelago reports. “Elected officials and operatives from across the president’s party are busy plotting how to run midterm campaigns without the benefit of a bill to bolster the social safety net and make generational investments to address climate change …

“It’s far from the ideal position. And party leaders and campaign strategists are holding out hope that the White House may still be able to revive nascent talks around the initiative to at least salvage some popular elements. But there is an increasing sense that political inertia may well win out and that their party will be forced to radically adapt its core pitch to voters.”

HISTORY-MAKING FED BOARD NOMS — Biden plans to nominate SARAH BLOOM RASKIN, a former top Treasury Department official, to serve as the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator, along with economists LISA COOK and PHILIP JEFFERSON for board positions, WSJ’s Nick Timiraos, Andrew Ackerman and Ken Thomas report.

“If all Mr. Biden’s nominees win Senate approval, Ms. Raskin and [LAEL BRAINARD] would succeed top officials chosen by [DONALD] TRUMP. Mr. Biden’s appointees would hold five of the seven board seats. Four positions would be held by women,” they write. “The nominations of Ms. Cook and Mr. Jefferson, who are both Black, would help Mr. Biden fulfill his promise to improve diversity atop the central bank, which in its history has had only three Black board members, all of them men.”

POLICE REFORM MEETS THE PEN — As legislation on the topic has stalled in Congress, Biden is looking to “sign executive actions on police reform as early as this month,” NBC’s Carol Lee, Mike Memoli, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Peter Alexander report. “The focus on police reforms is part of what appears to be a last-ditch effort by the Biden administration to take action on some of Biden’s signature initiatives in the run-up to his State of the Union Address on March 1. … Two people familiar with the discussions said the White House could roll out the executive actions to mark the beginning of Black History Month in February.”

CONGRESS

DEMS TORPEDO CRUZ’S RUSSIA BILL — Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a GOP effort led by Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) that sought to sanction a Russian natural-gas pipeline, by a largely party-line 55-44 vote “after an aggressive effort by the Biden administration to limit Democratic defections on the legislation,” Andrew Desiderio reports. “The vote and the partisan divisions surrounding it served as the coda to a week of U.S.-Russia talks in Europe that left American officials delivering increasingly dire warnings about Russia’s intentions, with one senior diplomat emphasizing on Thursday that ‘the drumbeat of war is sounding loud, and the rhetoric has gotten rather shrill.’”

A message from the Freedom to Vote Alliance:

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

JAN. 6 COMMITTEE LATEST — The House select committee on Jan. 6 issued subpoenas to Facebook, Google, Twitter and Reddit on Thursday “seeking information about how their platforms were used to help spread misinformation and violent extremism in the failed bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” Reuters’ Jan Wolfe, Sarah Lynch and Elizabeth Culliford report.

— The committee is also mulling over whether to subpoena House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY after he refused to comply with the committee’s request this week. But NYT’s Luke Broadwater and Charlie Savage note that “members and investigators on the special House panel have privately agonized over how aggressive to be in pursuing sitting members of Congress, weighing their desire for information about lawmakers’ direct interactions with Trump against the potential legal difficulty and political consequences of doing so.

“Now, they are wrestling with whether to subpoena Mr. McCarthy, the man who is in line to be speaker if Republicans retake the House this November, setting in motion a process that could potentially lead to a Democratic-controlled House holding him in contempt of Congress with the midterm elections looming. Congressional investigators have rarely confronted a situation that carries such hefty stakes for their institution.”

— McCarthy stood firm in his decision not to comply with the Jan. 6 committee’s request Thursday, saying he had “nothing else to add” to the panel’s investigation, report ABC’s Mariam Khan and Libby Cathey.

ALL POLITICS

WILL DUCEY DO IT? — Speculation is growing in Arizona political circles that GOP Gov. DOUG DUCEY — who is term-limited and has become a target of Trump’s ire — may shake up the Senate race in the state with a late entry, Natalie Allison reports. “Ducey’s final State of the State address on Monday … left the Arizona State Capitol Complex abuzz after the governor used the speech to repeatedly criticize the federal government. His address included six mentions of Washington, D.C., along with sustained attacks on President Joe Biden and his administration — the kind of broadsides more likely to come from a candidate for federal office than a governor outlining his final state legislative agenda. To many Arizona Republicans, he didn’t sound like a man who believes his political career is winding down this year.”

TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week,” guest-moderated by Amna Nawaz: Devlin Barrett, Geoff Bennett, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb.

SUNDAY SO FAR …

Gray TV “Full Court Press”: House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) … Annie Linskey.

FOX “Fox News Sunday,” anchored by John Roberts: Ashish Jha … Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin. Panel: Josh Holmes, Marie Harf and Chad Pergram.

MSNBC “The Sunday Show,” with a special edition on “Our Fragile Democracy”: Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) … Barbara Walter … Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam … Cora Masters Barry … Melanie Campbell … Nsé Ufot … Clarence Jones.

CBS “Face the Nation”: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan … Scott Gottlieb … Betsey Stevenson … Anthony Salvanto.

CNN “Inside Politics”: Jonathan Reiner. Panel: Margaret Talev, Toluse Olorunnipa, Seung Min Kim and Kaitlan Collins.

ABC “This Week”: Panel: Cecilia Vega, Rachel Scott, Ian Pannell and Steve Inskeep.

NBC “Meet the Press”: Panel: Matthew Continetti, Andrea Mitchell, Amna Nawaz and Eugene Robinson.

PLAYBOOKERS

Gavin Newsom defended his decision to deny parole to Sirhan Sirhan.

Rodney Davis’ staff is divided on his new beard.

Chasten Buttigieg is cheering on Amy Schneider on “Jeopardy!”

April Ryan celebrated 25 years covering the White House, including five presidents.

Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, is writing a book addressing the couple’s separation and more.

Chuck Schumer’s campaign found a way to use the word “panoply” in a press release to announce his many union endorsements, including SEIU 1199 and CSEA.

IN MEMORIAM — “Terry Teachout, a prolific New York-based biographer and essayist who wrote exuberantly about drama for The Wall Street Journal, died early Thursday at a friend’s home in Smithtown, N.Y. He was 65 years old.” Read the WSJ obit

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Meghan Mitchum is now chief of staff for FTI Cybersecurity’s global practice. She most recently was global director for identity company Proxy, and is a WeWork and Obama White House alum.

STAFFING UP — A handful of Glenn Youngkin campaign staffers are joining the incoming Virginia governor’s staff: Macaulay Porter will be press secretary after serving in the same position on the campaign, Christian Martinez will be deputy press secretary after working as rapid response director for the campaign, and Rachel Leppert will be creative director after serving as deputy digital director for the campaign.

TRANSITIONS — Corning Inc. has added Ann Patzke Henry as chief of staff for global government affairs (previously at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association), Allen Chew as senior director of federal government affairs (previously at Ford Motor Company), and Sarah Doran and Jordan Gross as managers of federal government affairs (previously at the American Beverage Association and DJI Technology, respectively). … Weston Loyd is now an account director with Brunswick Group. He most recently was a senior account executive at Edelman, and is a Trump White House alum. …

… GQR is elevating Lindsey Reynolds to senior partner, making the longstanding consulting firm fully woman-owned. She previously has been COO/CFO and data protection officer. … Keara Fenzel will be director of advocacy at the Center for Technology and Civic Life. She most recently has been a program director at Impactual. … Ed Chen is retiring as federal comms director of the Natural Resources Defense Council to write a novel about climate change.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Alex Hutkin, director of government relations at Securing America’s Future Energy, and Alix Hutkin welcomed Nicolas and Chloe Hutkin on Thursday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) (6-0) and Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) … Maureen Dowd … The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser … Shepard Smith … NPR’s Nina Totenberg … Frank Raines … League of Conservation Voters’ Gene Karpinski (7-0) … Sinead Casey … Michael Reed of the RNC … Regina Schofield … Colin Milligan of the American Hospital Association … Michael Block … WaPo’s Jen Liberto and Molly Gannon … Marc Schloss … CAP’s Marcella Bombardieri … Mary Kusler … NAACP’s Jonah Bryson … Toby Harnden … Herald Group’s Kevin Manning and Matt Brafman … Teddy Eynon … Ben Koltun of Beacon Policy Advisors … Eric Alterman … former North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue … Bill Plante … Amanda Callanan of the Claremont Institute … Margaret Chadbourn

Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.

Send Playbookers tips to [email protected]. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.

A message from the Freedom to Vote Alliance: When democracy thrives, so does our economy. And when democracy falters, our economy suffers. Indeed, research has found that higher rates of voter participation lead to healthier stock market returns, while low voter turnout shrinks the middle class and paralyzes economic growth. The bedrock stability of our democratic system gives companies the certainty they need to invest for the future, create good jobs, and spur innovation. Unfortunately, the cornerstone of our democracy – the right to vote – is under unprecedented attack. States nationwide are passing laws making it harder to cast ballots and easier for partisan officials to overturn election results they don’t like. For businesses to prosper, our basic rights must be protected. That’s why the Freedom to Vote Alliance is calling on the Senate to reform its rules and give critical voting rights legislation a straight up or down vote. It’s time to make the Senate work again.

Eugene Daniels @EugeneDaniels2

Ryan Lizza @RyanLizza

Tara Palmeri @tarapalmeri

New Book BRAVING THE BRONX RIVER: A 23-MILE KAYAK FROM WESTCHESTER TO RIKERS ISLAND Available Now

]

In a novel pandemic-era project, actor Daniel Robert Sullivan (Jersey Boys, Dear Evan Hansen, Motown) and stage manager Katelynn Cooper (Dear Evan Hansen, Matilda, School of Rock) have become the first people ever to document a journey down the entire length of the Bronx River.

Their epic adventure is captured in a new, photo-packed book, BRAVING THE BRONX RIVER: A 23-MILE KAYAK FROM WESTCHESTER TO RIKERS ISLAND.

Says Sullivan, “We both love kayaking. We both live in the Bronx. And we both wanted to take on something during the pandemic that was physically and creatively challenging. I couldn’t believe no one had ever tried to paddle this whole river before… until we saw how difficult it was!”

Cooper continues, “The Bronx River runs from one of the richest neighborhoods in New York to the poorest district in the entire country. We wanted to learn about the history surrounding the river, but we also wanted to see and acknowledge the disparity.”

Promotional material for the new book reads as follows: “New York City’s only freshwater river coalesces from brooks and streams in Westchester County and dumps itself twenty-three miles south in the face of Rikers Island. The river is witness to more of our country’s income inequality than its surrounding residents, stumbling and tumbling from its tributaries in one of New York’s wealthiest districts to its mouth in the single poorest district in the entire United States.

The Bronx River has a bad rap. Polluted? Yeah, in some parts. Full of tires and cars? Yeah, it used to be. But these fleeting eras of negative human impact have not destroyed the things that make the Bronx River one of the most striking waterways in North America: sky-high bluffs that encase a paddler on both sides, rocky waterfalls powerful enough to grind tobacco into snuff through the 19th century, countless deep channels hiding beaver and gargantuan carp, and an urban landscape that runs from pastoral to post-apocalyptic. The Bronx River is an outdoor adventure-seeker’s paradise.

The Bronx River begins in prosperity and ends in America’s most extreme poverty, and this is the first documented journey down its entire length.”

Sullivan is currently appearing in the First National Tour of Dear Evan Hansen as the standby for Larry Murphy. He is the author of Prospect High: Brooklyn, There’s No Substitute for Empathy: A Liberal’s Journey Through Conservative America, Lockdown: Await Further Instructions, and Places, Please! (Becoming a Jersey Boy).

Cooper is currently the Assistant Stage Manager of the First National Tour of Dear Evan Hansen.

BRAVING THE BRONX RIVER is available in hardcover, paperback, and digital formats here: https://www.amazon.com/Braving-Bronx-River-23-Mile-Westchester-ebook/dp/B09MLMHN5K