Lovers of John Lahr, senior drama critic of The New Yorker, were justly enthralled by "The Lady and Tennessee," a feature about the command held over Tennessee Williams' estate by longtime friend Lady Maria St. Just. With an elegance of language that could rival Williams' own, Lahr painted the petite powerhouse as a model for Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and as the embodiment of Williams' pretentious, overbearing mother. Lahr's profile earned him gratitude from Williams' authorized biographer Lyle Leverich, as well as boxes of material upon Leverich's death. Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh is not the second volume Leverich hoped Lahr would write; it is the biography the rest of us always hoped for. Admirers of Lahr's Prick Up Your Ears — about the needlessly short life of Joe Orton — know that Lahr's passion lies with the plays; the lives of his subjects, even sympathetic, cinematic ones like Williams' or Orton's, are second to their art. Fortunately, Lahr seems to be one of the few critics in the world who holds himself to an equally high standard.
John Lahr appears at 12:30 p.m. at Mechanics Institute Library, 57 Post St., S.F. Tickets are $15; call 393-0101 or visit milibrary.org. Lahr also appears at 7 p.m. at American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary St., S.F. Tickets are free with RSVP; call 749-2228 or visit act-sf.org.
415-393-0100
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