Word: mordant
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There is an element of mordant irony about the liberal transgenderism resolution in that it may be the secret weapon to achieving the fairness and quality which Harvard conservatives seek. (By "fairness" and "equality," I mean equal opportunity in the unadulterated sense of the term--no special preferences for anyone, for any reason.) The first time a Radcliffe organization receives a scholarship application from someone who is a biological male but who considers himself to be a female, the conservative fight for equality will have been won. Radcliffe will finally be called upon to reconsider its exclusively female career, scholarship...
...solemnity, EZ Streets somehow manages to avoid melodrama. Indeed, Haggis brings a mordant wit to his new show. He has conceived head gangster Jimmy Murtha (Joe Pantoliano) as the kind of guy who mercilessly blows people up, then goes to confession and can't quite deliver the goods. "I know what you do. God knows what you do," the priest chastises. "You're trying to tell me that the only sin you have to confess is that you took the Lord's name in vain?" Murtha's response: "I'm giving you what I can." Then he negotiates his penance...
Your wit is natural to you, almost compulsive, deeply mordant. They're telling you to squelch the one-liners. Don't. It's you, and it's a relief. The pious conniver in the White House lacks the cool tragic sense that produces irony. So go with it, knowing wit is not a substitute for thought but an adornment...
...quality this year is as uneven as it was under the Menotti regime -- ranging from the spectacular (Irish actor Barry McGovern in I'll Go On, a mordant one-man show derived from three novels by Samuel Beckett) to the mediocre (Hans Werner Henze's tired exercise in late-'50s avant-gardism, Der Prinz von Homburg) to the risible (the washed-up soprano Renata Scotto singing the role of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier). Still, Spoleto seems on course to become one of the nation's most important and enjoyable arts events...
Vegas follows another Disney dictum: it sets out to create entertainment the whole world will pay to see. The aim is pure show-and-tell: it shows with grand images and lavish costumes; it tells with familiar songs. A cuddly optimism replaces the mordant philosophizing of Tony Award-winning shows. People don't go to Vegas for a Sondheim musical (indeed, not many go to Broadway for one). Vegas shows are zippy, out-of-mind experiences aimed at vacationers of all classes and countries. "You have to have a certain style of show here," says EFX! master Crawford. "When half...