HeyJaredThe Vestibule of the Futile
My personal Substack, in which I range from Agatha Christie to Stephen Sondheim to John Adams and beyond. Based just outside Upper Hell and aiming for Purgatory. Author of plays, e.g. FOOLS OF TIME, available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FG868M3K
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 4
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- Oct 1, 2026
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- Aug 28, 2026
Latest issues
Practically Perfect (opens the original)
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I’ve always been slightly bothered by the question of Julie Andrews. She is a national - nay, international - treasure and today is her 91st birthday. She has a Damehood, Kennedy Center Honors and Life Achievement Awards from the Screen Actors Guild and the American Film Institute. When (if ever) she dies, the lights will certainly be dimmed on Broadway.Everyone loves Julie Andrews, except for the people who don’t love Julie Andrews because they are pseudo-sophisticates. The Vestib
Under the Mercy (opens the original)
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I cannot remember where I first encountered the work of Charles Williams, which is unfortunate because I would like to thank whomever and wherever it was. Charles Williams was born on 20 September 1886. He never obtained a degree, which is another piece of evidence for their inutility, and spent most of his working life as an editor for OUP. He was also one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century in his particular subgenre, which T.S. Eliot unhelpfully named ‘supernatural thrillers.’ This te
Agatha Christie Day (opens the original)
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Agatha Miller was born on 15 September 1890. As Agatha Christie, she became one of the bestselling authors of the 20th Century. Although she and Archie Christie divorced in 1928, she was by then too famous to be known as anything else. Sales of her books are barely quantifiable, but the best answer is ‘a lot. Really, a LOT.’ Her first few books sold well enough to ensure another would follow. In 1926, she rewrote the expectations of the genre with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. (In the unlikely ev
Dolly Parton (opens the original)
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Of the many things I wish I’d spent more time learning, country music is high on the list. Readers of Musical Mondays will know that I frequently bemoan my lack of knowledge about music, technical knowledge that would help me appreciate the craft and thus illuminate my writings on musical theatre.For example: recently on YouTube I saw an excerpt from Thrill Me, the Leopold and Loeb musical – yes, somebody thought to write a musical about Leopold and Loeb – and I heard a musical phrase that I mus
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