Category Archives: Books

MADAMA BUTTERFLY AT THE MET: ASMIK GREGORIAN IS BUTTERFLY

The most recent study names Puccini’s Madama Butterfly as the sixth most popular opera in the world. In fact, seeing the opera at the age of sixteen prompted Yoko Watanabe (1953-2004) to a singing career, eventually to the position of the most famous of Japanese opera singers, certainly to be one of the most acclaimed […]

May 12, 2024 – 7:43 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, Dance, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on MADAMA BUTTERFLY AT THE MET: ASMIK GREGORIAN IS BUTTERFLY

VERDI’S THE FORCE OF DESTINY AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA

The Force of Destiny was a Verdi opera unknown to me. I began my usual pre-performance routine. I read about Verdi’s life as he began writing the Force of Destiny . I read the play upon which the libretto is based. I then read the libretto and listened to a few audio recordings. I would […]

March 11, 2024 – 9:40 am | By Jake P | Posted in Acting, Books, Current Events, from Paul, Guest Opinion, History, Magazines, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater, Uncategorized | Comments Off on VERDI’S THE FORCE OF DESTINY AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA

LYRIC OPERA’S CINDERELLA: A RED-BLOODED BEL CANTO VALENTINE

Gioachino Rossini (1792-18868) was but 24 years old when he wrote his world-famous opera The Barber of Seville. The following year he wrote Cinderella (Cenerentola), which was more popular than his Barber for many years. After composing forty operas, he retired at age 46, never to write another opera. The Cinderella (Cerenterola) (1817) by Rossini […]

February 2, 2024 – 1:27 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Quotations, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theater | Comments Off on LYRIC OPERA’S CINDERELLA: A RED-BLOODED BEL CANTO VALENTINE

THE MET’S CARMEN: BRILLIANT MUSICIANSHIP, BUT TEX-MEX IS NOT SPAIN.

“Bullfighting is the only art form that both represents something and is that thing at the same time: the matador’s elegant immobility in the face of the bull not only represents man’s defiance of death, it is a man defying death, and there are women who do it too.”[i] In Bizet’s classic opera Carmen, the metaphor of the life defying […]

January 29, 2024 – 5:27 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, History, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on THE MET’S CARMEN: BRILLIANT MUSICIANSHIP, BUT TEX-MEX IS NOT SPAIN.

PORCHLIGHT’S “ANYTHING GOES” IS A “DE-LOVELY” SURPRISE

When the musical comedy Anything Goes first played in Chicago in 1934 the nation and the city were caught in the country’s worst economic situation – The Great  Depression. The Great Depression was particularly severe in Chicago because of the city’s reliance on manufacturing, the hardest hit sector nationally. Only 50 percent of the Chicagoans […]

January 14, 2024 – 3:02 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, Dance, from Paul, History, Music, Theater | Comments Off on PORCHLIGHT’S “ANYTHING GOES” IS A “DE-LOVELY” SURPRISE