Category Archives: Acting

LYRIC’S FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: SWAN SONG FOR TRADITION

Fiddler on the Roof, the world-famous musical adaptation of the stories of Sholom Aleichem, opens with the glorious song, “Tradition”, which proudly announces the subject of the musical story about to unfold. The dean of American theater critics Harold Clurman explains what is meant here by “tradition”: “This tradition, which might superficially be taken to […]

September 29, 2022 – 3:14 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater, Theology | Comments Off on LYRIC’S FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: SWAN SONG FOR TRADITION

RED-BLOODED ERNANI OPENS LYRIC SEASON

None of Verdi’s four previous operas did as much as Ernani for his reputation. Ernani (1844) owed its popularity to the coattails of Victor Hugo’s monumental Hernani (1830). Critics who complain of Ernani’s plot devices totally misunderstand what Victor Hugo was trying to do. The play Hernani was a full-scale assault on the reigning New-Classicism […]

September 22, 2022 – 11:10 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Art, Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on RED-BLOODED ERNANI OPENS LYRIC SEASON

RAVINIA OFFERS A MAGNIFICENT DON GIOVANNI

When opera arrived in Chicago, Mozart’s masterpiece Don Giovanni lagged behind in public approval. The Chicago Tribune reports that in 1867 “Don Giovanni has literally fought its way into public favor here. When first produced it attracted only musicians who recognized its intrinsic worth. But year after year Don Giovanni audiences grow larger and larger. […]

August 14, 2022 – 6:04 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Magazines, Men and Women, Music, Newspapers, Opera, Quotations, Theater, Uncategorized | Comments Off on RAVINIA OFFERS A MAGNIFICENT DON GIOVANNI

CITY LIT OFFERS BEAUTIFUL, HEARTBREAKING PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD

In 1904 the Great Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw used a character in his new play John Bull’s Other Island to comment on his fellow Irishmen’s character: Oh, the dreaming! the dreaming! the torturing, heart scalding, never satisfying dreaming, dreaming, dreaming, dreaming! [Savagely] No debauchery that ever coarsened and brutalized an Englishman can take the […]

July 18, 2022 – 11:02 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Newspapers, Politics, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on CITY LIT OFFERS BEAUTIFUL, HEARTBREAKING PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD

Riccardo Muti is Saving Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera

The dean of opera critics has stated the problem best: “I have said that in today’s  operatic world too much territory is ceded to the realm of the eye; that even within this realm too much attention is  paid to physical production and not enough to performance and that auteuristic privileges  claimed by directors and […]

June 29, 2022 – 12:53 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Theater, Uncategorized, Videos | Comments Off on Riccardo Muti is Saving Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera