Category Archives: Dance

VA SYMPHONY HAS THEM DANCING IN THE STREETS

   On an October evening, fifty-two years, ago a seventeen year old boy wandered into UVa’s Memorial Gymnasium in Charlottesville to hear his first pop concert,  performed by a group called Matha and The Vandellas. Ever since that night, Motown has been my pop music of choice, with some space reserved  for the eternal Bob […]

November 24, 2018 – 10:19 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Poetry, Uncategorized | Comments Off on VA SYMPHONY HAS THEM DANCING IN THE STREETS

THE MET”S SAMSON AND DALILA: THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMISTICE

One hundred years ago, on November 2, 1918, the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a Jubilee Victory Celebration of the end of World War One during a performance of Saint-Saens’ Samson and Dalila. Enrico Caruso, a fervent champion of the allied cause, had been  barnstorming the country with Al Jolson, George M Cohan,  and […]

October 21, 2018 – 4:08 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Quotations, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theater, Theology | Comments Off on THE MET”S SAMSON AND DALILA: THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMISTICE

GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY – A THIN PLACE FOLK OPERA

Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan asked Conor McPherson, the world’s greatest English-language playwright, if he would be interested in using his songs in a theater piece. The result is the magnificent folk-opera Girl from the North Country. Critics of the work ignore the key to understanding the work’s deep center: Conor McPherson was most interested […]

October 14, 2018 – 11:23 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, Dance, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Poetry, Quotations, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theater, Theology | Comments Off on GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY – A THIN PLACE FOLK OPERA

VIRGINIA OPERA’S STREET SCENE – A TRIUMPH

      Last week Terry Teachout, the wisest theater critic in America, noted the significance of regional opera companies in both maintaining a high standard of excellence and simultaneously attracting an audience. “It is not that grand opera is incapable of appealing to American theatergoers. Even now, there are many Americans who love it […]

September 29, 2018 – 11:34 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Dance, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Politics, Theater | Comments Off on VIRGINIA OPERA’S STREET SCENE – A TRIUMPH

THE MET’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY: THE POWER OF UNIVERSALS

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 […]

June 21, 2018 – 12:40 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Quotations, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theater, Theology | Comments Off on THE MET’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY: THE POWER OF UNIVERSALS