In this issue of the magazine, John Lahr reviews “Blithe Spirit,” currently playing at the Shubert Theatre in New York City. Last week, Lahr sat down with the director Michael Blakemore to talk about staging Noël Coward, his long career working with actors and playwrights, and his experience directing a Woody Allen play (which Blakemore also discussed in his 1996 New Yorker article “Death Defying Director”). (Subscribers can access the article in our Digital Reader.)
Goings On
What we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week, online, in N.Y.C., and beyond. Paid subscribers also receive book picks.
Our Local Correspondents
Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation
How bots, mercenaries, and table scalpers have turned the restaurant reservation system inside out.
By Adam Iscoe
Profiles
Padma Lakshmi Walks Into a Bar
Since leaving “Top Chef,” Lakshmi has found herself in a period of professional uncertainty. What better time to try standup comedy?
By Helen Rosner
Annals of Gastronomy
A Martini Tour of New York City
My month of vermouth-rinsing and fat-washing.
By Gary Shteyngart
Our Local Correspondents
Donald Trump Is Being Ritually Humiliated in Court
At his criminal trial, the ex-President has to sit there while potential jurors, prosecutors, the judge, witnesses, and even his own lawyers talk about him as a defective, impossible person.
By Eric Lach