Phantom supposedly is based on actual events. But that doesn't lend it weight, authority or even a modicum of dramatic sense.

Director David Cromer talked aging, optimism vs. pessimism, and his newest play, a revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth starring Diane Lane and Finn Wittrock at the Goodman Theatre. Previews begin Sept. 14.

It's shocking, really, that there hasn't been a biopic of the legendary Paul Robeson as of yet. Much, much more than "the guy who sings "Ol' Man River" in Showboat," Robeson was a towering American figure and one of the few people who can accurately be called a Renaissance man.

What occurs to me about the booing is that it might begin to color attitudes towards the Met under Peter Gelb for whom this 2009-10 season is the first with no vestigial ties to Joseph Volpe.