Category Archives: Mini-Review

Man and Superman: Audience Wins This Battle of the Sexes

With his parents having the kind of marriage they did, George Bernard Shaw grew up determined to avoid marriage. One of his first novels The Irrational Knot, written as a 24 year old, was an attack on the “villainous institution of marriage. “ Shaw preferred dalliances with married women. Partly to justify his growing reputation […]

April 28, 2014 – 5:01 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, Men and Women, Mini-Review, Quotations, Theater | Comments (1)

La Clemenza di tito: Titus as Christ

Our first visit to the Lyric Opera at the Civic Opera House since coming to Chicago was to see Mozart’s last Opera La Clamenza di tuti. The Civic Opera House is magnificent. Built in 1929, it’s art deco styling is one of the most glorious theater interiors I’ve seen. Legend has it that this theater […]

March 18, 2014 – 9:28 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, Mini-Review, Music, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theology | Comments Off on La Clemenza di tito: Titus as Christ

ShawChicago’s ST. JOAN: Thrilling Theater

When I was a theater student, common wisdom held that the two great theater writers of the English language were Shakespeare and Shaw. Their plays were taught in classes, sold in bookstores, and regularly performed. This is no longer the case. Shaw has disappeared from the classroom and the bookstores. Performances are, alas rare. Why […]

February 2, 2014 – 6:08 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, History, Men and Women, Mini-Review, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theater, Theology | Comments Off on ShawChicago’s ST. JOAN: Thrilling Theater

FUN WITH THOMAS HEYWOOD

Today we visited the Newberry Library, opened in 1893, and home of a world famous Renaissance Studies Center, including not only a First Folio of Shakespeare, but an extensive collection of first editions of plays by Thomas Heywood (1574-1641), whose play The Fair Maid of the West Part 1 we intended to see. (We doubted […]

January 19, 2014 – 11:23 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in History, Mini-Review, Theater | Comments Off on FUN WITH THOMAS HEYWOOD

Remy Bumppo’s An Inspector Calls: Excellent Acting, Provocative Script

The stated mission of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, in its 17th year, is to “engage audiences with the emotional and ethical complexities of society through the provocative power of great theatrical language.” J. B. Priestley’s 1945 mystery An Inspector Calls is probably more provocative now than when it premiered in Josef Stalin’s 1945 Russia, but for […]

December 9, 2013 – 1:04 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in History, Mini-Review, Politics, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theater | Comments Off on Remy Bumppo’s An Inspector Calls: Excellent Acting, Provocative Script