Category Archives: Movies

TIDEWATER STAGE’S THE 39 STEPS: A HILARIOUS HOMAGE

“Spoof’ was originally a late 19th century drinking game involving coins. By the late 1950s the term began to be used to describe a skit or “send-up” of a popular literary or cultural genre. By the late 1970s “spoof” had engendered a theatrical movement known as the “Theatre of the Ridiculous”, itself a send up […]

June 18, 2017 – 8:29 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Movies, Music, Theater | Comments Off on TIDEWATER STAGE’S THE 39 STEPS: A HILARIOUS HOMAGE

LYRIC OPERA’S MAGIC FLUTE: A Metatheatrical Spectacular

Reviewing an 1879 production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the anonymous Chicago Tribune critic noted, “it would be absurd to try to explain the plot…. All sorts of explanations have been attempted but, if anyone ever really knew what it meant, he died before he said anything about it. It is a hodge-podge, nonsense, and […]

December 15, 2016 – 10:04 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Art, Current Events, from Paul, History, Media, Men and Women, Movies, Music, Opera, Quotations, Television, Theater | Comments Off on LYRIC OPERA’S MAGIC FLUTE: A Metatheatrical Spectacular

Chicago Opera and CITIZEN KANE

“Samuel Insull built the Civic Opera Building for his mistress, an opera singer.” “Samuel Insull built the Civic Opera Building for his mistress, Mary Garden, an opera singer.” These two similar tales are told daily by Chicago River tour guides. And these two tales are totally false. The only truth in the tales is that […]

August 27, 2016 – 2:30 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Art, from Paul, History, Media, Men and Women, Movies, Music, Newspapers, Opera, Quotations, Theater, Uncategorized, Videos | Comments Off on Chicago Opera and CITIZEN KANE

The Raven Theatre’s A LOSS OF ROSES: The Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary

The story of Chicago’s role in fostering the career of Tennessee Williams is well known. But Chicago’s role in the career of America’s other great playwright, William Inge, is not as familiar. In 1944 the young drama instructor, William Inge, met the would-be playwright Tennessee Williams in St. Louis where both men lived. Williams invited […]

February 22, 2016 – 6:01 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, History, Men and Women, Movies, Music, Quotations, Theater, Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Raven Theatre’s A LOSS OF ROSES: The Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary

Lyric Opera’s Bel Canto: The Music, The Music, The Music

“It has a tremendous variety of expression, of musical ideas. It has a virtuoso quality to it. It has very driven and barbaric moments about it, very lyrical moments, very sensual moments. It has chamber music in the midst of all this bombastic stuff. It’s incredibly exciting.” The words of Leonard Bernstein’s former pupil Yakov […]

January 13, 2016 – 11:04 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Movies, Music, Opera, Politics, Quotations, Theater, World Affairs | Comments Off on Lyric Opera’s Bel Canto: The Music, The Music, The Music