Louis Pasteur: Celebs Rumors

David Benedict All the elements are there: a forgotten but fascinatingly tragic, true-life story about a world-changing medical discovery that saved the lives of millions; a large-cast, grand-scale production including dancers and onstage musicians; and Mark Rylance on stage in a no-hold-barred performance. Yet despite remarkably fierce energy from everyone involved, most particularly Rylance, the bio-drama “Dr. Semmelweis” ultimately proves more enervating than exciting. You would be forgiven for thinking that this play about a maverick, misunderstood savior in the middle of a public health crisis was a direct response to recent world events. In fact, workshops that formed the foundation of the play, the brainchild of Rylance and director Tom Morris (co-director of “War Horse”), predated the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the events of very recent history adds considerable perspective to an already important story, dramatized here by Stephen Brown and Rylance and set in the middle of the 19th century.

Roy Trakin The origins of 4/20 as a national cannabis holiday — what President Day is for mattress sales and St. Patrick’s Day is for wearing another kind of green — dates back to 1971, when a group of stoner buddies at San Rafael High School in Marin County dubbed the Waldos — for their predilection to hang out and smoke on a campus wall — would meet by a statue of chemist Louis Pasteur on the campus at 4:20 p.m.