This first collection of John Lahr’s theatre writing from The New Yorker—for which he won his second George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism—draws on his skills as a biographer, theatre historian, and cultural commentator. “At the end of an essay, “ Lahr writes in his introduction, “I want the reader to know more about the even than just what I think about it.” 

This philosophy has led Lahr to include in his theatrical discussions personal interviews, texts from diaries, letters, memoirs, and plays to reveal the world of theatre and the denizens who make it in an immediate contextural way. Through Lahr’s eyes, the work of such remarkable playwrights as Tennessee Williams, Tony Kushner, Arthur Miller, Alan Bennett, Clifford Odets, Oscar Wilde, and Tom Stoppard come vividly to life. Here to, Lahr explores the contradictions of Stephen Sondheim, the raw brilliance of Savion Glover’s tap dancing, the genius of George and Ira Gershwin, the joyful inventiveness of director George C. Wolfe, the caustic talent of comedian Bill Hicks.

“This is a beautiful, important book. Here is a funny, elegant, smart chronicler unashamed of his love for the art and for its artists. There are fantastic stories, brilliant insights, histories, and resurrections. Lahr’s book brought me a new and renewed appreciation of the complexity, humanity, and nobility of dramatic art.”

Tony Kushner

“I loved Light Fantastic. Mr. Lahr extends and enhances The New Yorker’s tradition of participatory criticism. He writes of the theatre with humour and insight, and not only with love, but with a beautiful sweetness.”

David Mamet

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