The New York Times Book Review, Robin Lippincott
Robert Brustein is an elegant and eloquent voice in the wilderness of contemporary American culture.


From Booklist
Once one of the most vocal proponents of risky, status quo^-shaking theater in such quintessential 1960s-era writings as those in The Theatre of Revolt (1964) and Making Scenes (1981), Brustein in recent years has fought a rearguard action against multiculturalism and those who would use theater to advance social and political causes. Yet he is no cultural conservative of the Hilton Kramer^-John Simon stamp and in many ways remains an old-style Kennedy-Johnson liberal. You never really know which side of an issue he will land on, which drives his more doctrinaire detractors crazy--and makes him fascinating. In this collection of witty, tightly written essays, most dated 1996 and 1997, Brustein gleefully gores sacred cows left and right, chiding the right for stifling the National Endowment for the Arts and the left for its superstitious belief in the power of art to affect social change. The first third of the book contains Brustein's thoughts on race and politics and the ongoing culture war, in particular Brustein's feud with August Wilson regarding white and black theaters, which culminated in a public debate in early 1997. The rest of the book contains trenchant, exceptionally well-written theater reviews and miscellaneous writings on theater, notably a eulogy of the Group Theatre founder, Stella Adler. Jack Helbig


Hap Erstein of the Washington Post
Provocative and controversial...Brustein is unafraid to go against the grain.


Daniel Mufson of American Theatre
Brustein’s writing is good for the artists and good for the ever-dwindling discourse on theatre.


Carolyn Clay of The Boston Phoenix.
Passionate!


The Dramatist
Cutting edge...all the heavy breathing in these essays will engender others to join in this vigorous calisthenic workout.


Book Description
Accounts of Robert Brustein's debate with August Wilson.


Card catalog description
Robert Brustein's new book is more than a collection of his writings on theatre. It also functions as a precise barometer of contemporary society, measuring the pressures of our present-day cultural climate. Never one to shy away from controversy, Mr. Brustein includes in this new volume accounts of his celebrated Town Hall debate with August Wilson over the issue of segregated casting; his spirited defense of the National Endowment for the Arts against its enemies on the political right; his eloquent response to the impact of political correctness on the theatre and the university; and his forthright criticism of what he calls "coercive philanthropy" - the tendency of funding agencies and foundations to impose their own political and social agendas on artistic institutions. At the heart of Cultural Calisthenics are Mr. Brustein's appraisals of the theatre at work - on and off Broadway, in London and Moscow, and in American regional playhouses - over the past five years.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Robert Brustein's new book is more than a collection of his writings on theatre. It also functions as a precise barometer of our cultural climate. Never one to shy away from controversy, Mr. Brustein includes accounts of his celebrated Town Hall debate with August Wilson over the issue of segregated casting; his spirited defense of the National Endowment for the Arts against its enemies on the political right; his eloquent response to the impact of political correctness on the theatre and the university; and his forthright criticism of what he calls "coercive philanthropy."

At the heart of Cultural Calisthenics are Mr. Brustein's appraisals of the theatre at work--on and off Broadway, in London and Moscow, and in American regional playhouses. His perceptive and intelligent criticism is applied here to productions ranging from Shakespeare to O'Neill, from Edward Albee to Chicago, from Arthur Miller to Ragtime. The book closes with deft portraits of some of the people Mr. Brustein believes have enhanced the art of the theatre he has written about for more than forty years, including Chekhov, Brecht, Sam Shepard, Orson Welles, Eugene Ionesco, Stella Adler, and Joe Papp.

FROM THE CRITICS

Lippincott - New York Times

Elegant and eloquent...Robert Brustein is the chief Cultural Imperialist.

Clay - The Boston Phoenix.

Passionate!

Daniel Mufson - American Theatre

Brustein's writing is good for the artists and good for the ever-dwindling discourse on theatre.

Hap Erstein - Washington Post

Provocative and controversial...Brustein is unafraid to go against the grain.

Dramatist