A multigenerational audience packed the sold-out Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space, for a November 16 event to honor the life and works of author E.B. White. The event, titled Terrific Tails: A Celebration of E.B. White, was sponsored by Symphony Space and HarperCollins, with proceeds benefiting First Book Manhattan. The event is a follow-up to last year’s tribute to the works of Roald Dahl.
Guest performers reading from White’s literary cache included actors David Hyde Pierce, Jane Curtin, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, and Michael Potts, with author Jarrett J. Krosoczka hosting. Additionally, White’s granddaughter Martha and his stepson Roger Angell (author and former senior editor at the New Yorker), shared their memories of the author; the barbershop quartet Scollay Square performed songs from the film adaptation of Charlotte’s Web.
Prior to the show, Pierce, Potts, and Krosoczka replied to PW’s questions about their own relationships with the works of E.B. White.
Potts reflected on how Charlotte’s Web (Harper & Brothers, 1952) felt highly personal to him as a child, even the darker elements of the story: “Charlotte’s Web was my first E.B. White book,” he said. “It was particularly magical to me because I grew up on my grandparents’ farm, with chickens, pigs [and other animals]. I spoke to them and believed they spoke back. I also knew full well that some of them ended up on the dinner plate.”
Krosoczka stated that “located on my father-in-law’s bookshelf is his childhood copy of Charlotte’s Web. What a powerful testament to the power of E.B. White’s words – and the power of book ownership.”
Pierce recalled his early emotional responses to White’s books: “My mom read Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little to me when I was a kid, and I remember us both laughing and crying a lot. I look forward to revisiting these great books, and rediscovering what makes them great.”
Here are some photo highlights from the evening of readings, memories, and music:
David Hyde Pierce gave a dramatic performance of a section from Stuart Little (Harper & Brothers, 1945), in which the intrepid mouse, born to human parents in New York City, takes a bus to Central Park, where he becomes the captain of a model sailboat.
Roger Angell shared some anecdotes about his stepfather, recalling that “he taught me how to sail, drive, and how to write,” and that the author “took life seriously, but [his] days lighter.” He shared how White would often open a beer and put it on the floor so his dachshund, Fred, “could lap up the last trickles, then eat the damp label.” Not to worry, though. Fred lived to a ripe old age. Angell also commented on his grandfather’s love of New York City and called White a “world-class noticer.” He said he hopes that White’s work will continue to inspire readers to “notice our own New York with a little more care.”
Martha White shared stories about her grandfather, first noting that she has often been asked by children over the years whether Fern’s character was based on her (no) and whether she is in fact “Stuart Little’s granddaughter.” She reflected on her grandfather’s love of the real animals in his life – as with Angell, the beer-loving Fred stands out clearly in her memories. Martha compiled and edited a collection of White’s essays and musings on dogs, titled E.B. White On Dogs (Tilbury House, 2013). In the introduction to the book, she contemplates why White never wrote a children’s book about any of his own dogs, saying: “I suspect their personalities were too dominant for the stories he chose to tell.”
The performers closed out the evening with a lively choral reading of a section from Charlotte’s Web. Michael Potts narrated, while Naomi Watts played Charlotte; Jarrett J. Krosoczka played Wilbur; David Hyde Pierce played the gander with a speech impediment; and Jane Curtin, using a vocal bravado that had the audience in stitches, played Old Sheep. Pictured here (l. to r.): Liev Schreiber, Jane Curtin, Michael Potts, Naomi Watts, David Hyde Pierce, and Jarrett J. Krosoczka.
All photos: Rahav Segev.
