Folks, in the spirit of the many reviews of Twain performance gracing our
list recently--

A brief review of MT Tonight, @ UMSL in St. Louis on Saturday April 11:

The show was spectacular.  I've actually never seen any one-person show,
and until Saturday had never seen Hal Holbrook's performance of MT
Tonight.

To cut to the chase:  it was spellbinding; and the talent to pull that off
is really off the charts.  Imagine doing that at 90!!  I hope you will all
recognize my gratitude and compliments to Hal.  It was very cool hearing
many famous passages delivered from a walking and talking near-version of
Twain.

In particular I was mesmerized by Hal's use of the moments of silence --
including the Jim Blaine tale when the actor pretends to fall asleep.  The
way he takes on the character fully is really quite a spectacle.  The
audience seems uncertain what exactly is happening.  There is much laughter
as confused observers squirm in their seats.  The dramatization of Huck
Finn (the feud scenes with Grangerfords & Shepherdsons) was quite long but
extremely powerful.

All in all, I suspect I will remember the performance for a very long time,
and I am grateful I made the time and arrangements to see it.  Highly
recommended!

-hb

-- 
Prof. Harold K. Bush
Professor of English
3800 Lindell
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO  63108
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
<www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>