Monthly Archives: March 2018

VIRGINIA OPERA’S LUCIA: DON’T MISS THIS ROMANTIC TRAGEDY

What one sees on the Harrison Opera House stage with Lucia Di Lammermoor (1835) represented an historic change in tragic storytelling. It is also an opera production you should not miss, whether you are a seasoned opera-goer, or a would-be rookie thinking about trying out the art for the first time. In Lucia, the hero […]

March 28, 2018 – 1:14 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Quotations | Comments Off on VIRGINIA OPERA’S LUCIA: DON’T MISS THIS ROMANTIC TRAGEDY

NATIONAL THEATRE’S JULIUS CAESAR: THE JOHN WILKES BOOTH INTERPRETATION RETURNS

Julius Caesar opened Shakespeare’s new Globe Theatre in 1599. Having completed his history cycle, Shakespeare turned to a political drama set in the ancient past. History was fertile ground through which to make  political points about the issues of the day. Julius Caesar was to Rome as Elizabeth I was to England – an aging […]

March 23, 2018 – 11:42 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, History, Movies, Politics, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on NATIONAL THEATRE’S JULIUS CAESAR: THE JOHN WILKES BOOTH INTERPRETATION RETURNS

LITTLE THEATRE OF NORFOLK’S DEATH OF A SALESMAN: THE SOUL SURVIVOR

Jack Kline, president and chief operating officer of Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. says “people like to do business with people they like. That’s just a natural part of the way people operate.” People prefer the people they like. Jurors prefer the more likeable attorney. Voters prefer the more likable candidate. Buyers prefer to purchase […]

March 17, 2018 – 12:06 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Quotations, Theater, Theology | Comments Off on LITTLE THEATRE OF NORFOLK’S DEATH OF A SALESMAN: THE SOUL SURVIVOR

The Met’s SEMIRAMIDE: Glorious Singing

Shakespeare’s great comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not the only drama with a scene set at “Ninny’s Tomb.” When the rude mechanicals enact “The Most Lamentable Comedy, and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisby,” Bottom and Snug mispronounce King Ninus’ tomb as “King “Ninny’s Tomb”. There is no mistaking King Ninus’ Tomb in […]

March 11, 2018 – 3:31 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Theater | Comments Off on The Met’s SEMIRAMIDE: Glorious Singing

National Theatre Live: The Expressionist Hamlet

Lyndsay Turner’s Hamlet, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is strikingly different from other recent Hamlets. Rory Kinnear ‘s Hamlet directed by Nicholas Hytner, Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 self-directed Hamlet, and Greg Doran’s 2009 David Tennant Hamlet all evidenced the influence of John Barton’s magisterial elucidation of how Shakespeare’s language needed to be played. Barton insisted on a detailed […]

March 9, 2018 – 11:08 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, History, Movies, Quotations, Theater, Theology, Uncategorized | Comments Off on National Theatre Live: The Expressionist Hamlet