Category Archives: Dance

AMERICAN BLUES THEATER: BUDDY HOLLY LIVES

Buddy Holly was my favorite rock and roller and first hero. As an eight year old boy with a single bud headphone from his transistor radio I waited for Buddy’s music to come on after I went to bed. We shared a common trait  – glasses. In the days before contact lenses, we “four-eyes” were […]

May 22, 2018 – 1:34 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Music, Theater | Comments Off on AMERICAN BLUES THEATER: BUDDY HOLLY LIVES

RICHMOND BALLET’S NUTCRACKER: MAKING TRADITION EXCITING

The publicity for the Richmond Ballet’s Nutcracker quotes the New York Times: “one of the country’s most perfect”. I haven’t seen enough Nutcrackers to weigh in with any comparison, but I can safely say that Stoner Winslett and Charles Caldwell’s version accomplishes the seemingly impossible. Their Nutcracker looks very traditional, while simultaneously being thrillingly imaginative. […]

December 2, 2017 – 6:51 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Dance, from Paul, History, Mini-Review, Theater | Comments Off on RICHMOND BALLET’S NUTCRACKER: MAKING TRADITION EXCITING

VIRGINIA OPERA PRESENTS RARE SAMSON AND DALILAH

The occasion of the Virginia Opera’s production of Camille Saint-Saens’ 1877 SAMSON AND DALILAH underscores the fact Camille Saint-Saens’ work is one of only a handful of operas based on Biblical stories. Why is that? Many historical factors account for the phenomenon. First, during the late sixteenth century, when opera was being developed, the Pope, […]

October 4, 2017 – 9:30 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theater, Theology, Uncategorized | Comments Off on VIRGINIA OPERA PRESENTS RARE SAMSON AND DALILAH

Lyric Opera’s CARMEN: Ashford and Calleja Make History

“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 Rob Ashcroft’s magnificent new telling of Bizet’s Carmen, the […]

February 20, 2017 – 9:09 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Art, Books, Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Lyric Opera’s CARMEN: Ashford and Calleja Make History

The Goodman Theatre’s Wonderful Town: A Wonderful Show

Occasionally a production arrives with such startling imagination, and with performances overflowing with such zest and talent, that a viewer is at a loss for words. The production I am referring to is Mary Zimmerman’s Wonderful Town at the Goodman Theatre. The 1950s musical is based on the post-World War II play My Sister Eileen […]

September 20, 2016 – 11:54 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Art, Books, Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Music, Newspapers, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on The Goodman Theatre’s Wonderful Town: A Wonderful Show