Here's what to talk about if you're stranded on a highway on the way to New York tonight:
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Charles Isherwood complains in the New York Times that "television and movie exiles" are bringing down vocal standards on Broadway, calling Daniel Radcliffe "light" and "reedy," Sean Hayes "well-drilled" rather than "naturally gifted," and Catherine Zeta-Jones lacking in "delicacy and emotional truth." He does admit that this is not an entirely new phenomenon, pointing to the "modest singing abilities" of Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. I have to confess a sympathetic response to the lead-throated movie stars in Isherwood's piece, as I have been relegated to tunelessly talking my way through "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" at more than one piano party.
- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has made it semi-official that he's running for president, beginning what all headline writers hope is a long campaign with plenty of opportunities to sneak in references to the Dan Savage definition of his name (a "frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the anal sex"). JoeMyGod goes for the obvious, with "Frothy Mix Makes It Semi-Official," but Dave Weigel wins the day more subtly with "Santorum Makes Splash on 2012 Field." I await the report of "Santorum Fever Spreading in Iowa," hopefully accompanied by a color-coded map with Iowa's quilt-like county lines.
- The Daily's Reihan Salam praises the Fung Wah bus line, which runs between Boston and New York, as a cheap and efficient alternative to high-speed rail (a.k.a. "billions of dollars on routes to nowhere"), seemingly oblivious to Fung Wah's status as a punch line involving crashes, fires, and "comically calamatious ineptitude."
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