Monthly Archives: October 2014

CAPRICCIO: “Calling Stefan Zweig!”

Richard Strauss’ Capriccio was an excellent choice for the Lyric Opera’s 60th anniversary season for two reasons. First, it could showcase, better than almost any other opera, the voice and acting of the Lyric’s creative consultant, Renee Fleming, and second, because of the opera’s subject: it is an opera about opera. (Historically audiences like these […]

SMOKEFALL: EVEN BETTER THE SECOND TIME

I returned to Smokefall at the Goodman Theatre. Noah Haidle’s play deserves a second viewing. The performance  confirmed my initial reaction made last fall: Smokefall by Noah Haidle: An American Classic. The play is organized non-chronologically, and the thematic double casting of actors caused my focus at that time to be almost exclusively on the […]