Theater: Elitist, Moi?

Tom Stoppard isn't trying to be highbrow. To prove it, his new play is about rock music ... and revolution

Seamus Ryan / Camera Press

British playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard.

When his interviewer arrives, Tom Stoppard is standing outside the Broadway theater where his latest play, Rock 'n' Roll, is about to begin previews. Sporting an open white shirt with the sleeves partly rolled up and tousled (if graying) hair that still gives him the look of an overage college student, he's enjoying a cigarette in a circle of warm spring sunshine that has managed to find a hole in the Manhattan skyline. But he really should be off his feet. A few days earlier, in the rush to catch a plane to New York City, Stoppard stubbed his toe hard...

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