British playwright Tom Stoppard, who won Academy Award for 'Shakespeare In Love,' has died at 88

[Retrograde]

14. My favorite Stoppard play: Travesties

Lenin, James Joyce, and Dada artist Tristan Tzara are living in Zurich during WWI (true!): they get involved with someone in the British Consulate to put an a version of "The Importance of Being Earnest", with limericks and allusions to vaudeville. Underneath, there's a meditation on class privilege, art, and war. Rarely produced, though - I was lucky enough to see it during its Broadway premiere. Second favorite is a toss-up between "Dogg's Hamlet/Cahoot's MacBeth" and "Hapgood". I always wanted Stoppard to collaborate with Sondheim on a musical.