The Big Picture and the Closeup

Jersey Boys is probably the preeminent jukebox musical, beautifully presented. And if you can’t visit the New York mother ship, this will do nicely.

The point of von Mahlsdorf was that she survived, and in doing so permitted her collection and the world it evoked to survive as well. As she tells the audience at the end: “You must save everything and you must show it as is. It is a record of life.” Everything, in this case, including accounts that cannot entirely be reconciled with the documentary history. It is all, in some sense, true, all, in some sense, a record of life.

I for one do not condemn the parents for having chosen one reasonable resolution. I understand why legislatures pass the minimum drinking age laws, and I understand why few young people obey them, and I understand why parents as well quietly rebel.