‘Kate’s’ Message of Hope, Unity

On Wednesday, the day after America’s terror, performances of “Kiss Me, Kate,” Cole Porter’s 1948 musical hit, resumed at the Shubert Theatre. Even though my wife and I were heavy with grief following the terror visited upon our country, we used the tickets we had purchased long before in an attempt to begin the restoration of normalcy in our lives.

The show went on with energy and enthusiasm. The audience was small but receptive. People were still able to laugh and applaud. The performers were able to transport us, even for a short time, from the shock we were in. And, I guess, our presence in that theater required that the cast and crew refocus on their jobs: to entertain us. In so doing, we released them, for that same short time, from their pain.

At the end of the performance, after all had taken their well-deserved bows, Rex Smith, the male lead of the play, addressed the audience. He expressed the crew’s and cast’s appreciation that the audience, by their presence, was letting everyone know that we would not let terrorists deprive Americans of their way of life. He asked that we stand and sing “God Bless America” holding hands with our neighbors. The music and, particularly, the lyrics rang out strong. Throughout, many of the folks on stage were crying unashamedly, as were many in the audience. When the singing ended, the curtain rang down and people filed out--very quietly.

For those few minutes, there was no proscenium arch separating audience from cast. No divider between stage and orchestra pit. There was only a gathering of Americans certain in their devotion to their country and sharing the pain of all Americans everywhere.

Bravo for this company reminding us how the big show must go on.

ROBERT MIRISCH

Los Angeles

*

Walter Cronkite helped get us through John F. Kennedy’s assassination and other horrors of the 1960s. I keep thinking of him now and miss his reassuring “voice of experience and reason.” Hope we hear from him during this unnerving, anxious time.

DIANA SMITH

Pomona

*

It is so dispiriting to see the behavior of the president and the White House seemingly controlled by the spinning heads of the Fox News Channel. When the president, quite rationally, was put in a safe area following Tuesday’s attacks, there was no need for this action to bedefended or critiqued. Yet that’s exactly what Fox News Channel’s biased crew of news readers-analysts did. And so on Wednesday and Thursday, we are treated to an overdose of spin from the White House on why the president was for a short while incommunicado.

Now the hawks of the Fox News Channel are thumping their chests demanding a swift military response. Some have mentioned the “nuclear option.” But where? Afghanistan? Hamburg, Germany? Boston? I shudder to think of what will come of an executive branch that sees as its first order of business to appease the commentators of the Fox News Channel instead of the American people.

KEVIN J. MARTIN

Silver Lake

*

I have always considered Liz Smith a class act, frequently reporting on less-than-class-acts. Her column Wednesday morning touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes at a time when I believed I was numb. I am inspired by her response to our national tragedy. Class, indeed.

PAMELA OSBORN

Lompoc

*

I appreciated Liz Smith’s column but must comment on the last word in her conclusion: “To hell with gossip and entertainment.”

In Ben Hecht’s introduction to the movie “The Spectre of the Rose,” he wrote:

Here’s to the Seven Arts

That dance and sing

And keep our troubled planet

Green with Spring.

BETTY BAUM NOVICOFF

Brea