The Real Thing: Listen, Read, Taste

Immerse yourself in the world of The Real Thing with our recommended listening, reading and tasting lists!

LISTEN

The Crystals, "Da Doo Ron Ron"

HENRY: It's not supposed to be eight records you love and adore.

CHARLOTTE: Yes, it is.

HENRY: It is not. It's supposed to be eight records you associate with turning-points in your life.

CHARLOTTE: Well, I'm a turning-point in your life, and when you took me to Zermatt your favourite record was the Ronettes doing 'Da Doo Ron Ron'.

HENRY: The Crystals. (scornfully) The Ronettes.

Émile Waldteufel, "The Skater's Waltz"

HENRY: Look, ages ago, Debbie put on one of those classical but not too classical records -- she must have been about ten or eleven, it was before she dyed her hair -- and I said to you, 'That's that bloody tune they were driving me mad with when I was trying to write "Jean-Paul is up the Wall" in that hotel in Deauville all those years ago.' Or Zermatt.

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, "Um-Um-Um-Um-Um-Um"

Neil Sedaka, "Oh, Carol"

CHARLOTTE: He likes pop music. The problem is he's a snob without being an inverted snob. He's ashamed of liking pop music.

HENRY: This is true. The trouble is I don't like the pop music which it's all right to like. You can have a bit of Pink Floyd shoved in between your symphonies and your Dame Janet Baker -- that shows a refreshing breadth of taste or at least a refreshing candour -- but I like Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders doing 'Um Um Um Um Um Um.'

MAX: Doing what?

HENRY: That's the title. (He demonstrates it.)'Um-Um-Um-Um-Um-Um.' I like Neil Sedaka. Do you remember 'Oh, Carol'?

MAX: For God's sake.

The Righteous Brothers, "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'"

HENRY: I was taken once to hear a woman at Covent Garden in a sort of foreign musical with no dancing which people were donating kidneys to get tickets for. The idea was that I would be cured of my strange disability, which took the form of believing that the Righteous Brothers' recording of 'You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin' on the London label was possibly the most haunting, the most deeply moving noise ever produced by the human spirit, and this female vocalist person was going to set me right.

MAX: No good?

HENRY: Not even close.

Bach, "Air on a G String"

Procul Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale"

ANNIE: It's Bach.

HENRY: The cheeky beggar.

ANNIE: What?

HENRY: He's stolen it.

ANNIE: Bach?

HENRY: Note for note. Practically a straight lift from Procul Harum. And he can't even get it right. Hang on. I'll play you the original.

READ

James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

ANNIE: Are you still doing your list?

HENRY: Mmm.

ANNIE: Have you got a favourite book?

HENRY: Finnegans Wake.

ANNIE: Have you read it?

HENRY: Don't be difficult.

U.S. Missiles in England and the Anti-Nuclear Movement

Nov. 1983, New York Times, "First U.S. Missiles Arrive by Plane at a British Base"

Wilson Center Digital Archive, "Nuclear Debate Pamphlets"

August Strindberg, Miss Julie

The play Annie is rehearsing at the start of The Real Thing.

John Ford, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore

The play Annie is rehearsing at the end of The Real Thing.

Marriage and Fidelity

June 2011, New York Times, "Married, With Infidelities"

Feb. 2012, Forbes, "What's So Wrong with Monogamy?"

TASTE

Buck's Fizz
1 part champagne
2 parts fresh orange juice
Top 2 parts fresh orange juice with 1 part chilled champagne. Garnish with orange slice or zest.

Pineapple-Crab Dip
Courtesy of Delicious Living

4 ounces low-fat cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup crushed pineapple(well-drained)
1 6-ounce can cooked crabmeat (drained and flaked)
1/2 cup diced mushrooms
1/4 cup diced celery
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
2 teaspoons minced French tarragon
Salt and pepper (to taste)

In a medium serving bowl, mix together cream cheese and pineapple until thoroughly blended. Add crabmeat, mushrooms, celery, chives, and tarragon and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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The Real Thing plays on Broadway through January 4, 2015. For more information and tickets,please visit our website.