Category Archives: World Affairs

FINE ARTS BUILDING IN AMERICAN THEATRE HISTORY

The City of Chicago proclaimed Friday, October 13, as “Fine Arts Building Day” in recognition of its 125th anniversary year. The Fine Arts Building also played a significant role in the history of the American theater by hosting the landmark Chicago Little Theatre. When the Fine Arts Building opened in 1885 as a Studebaker automobile […]

October 6, 2023 – 12:21 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Art, Books, Dance, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Poetry, Politics, Quotations, Talks, Theater, Uncategorized, World Affairs | Comments Off on FINE ARTS BUILDING IN AMERICAN THEATRE HISTORY

VIRGINIA OPERA’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY WORKS PUCCINI MAGIC

Madama Butterfly, the lovely opera presented by the Virginia Opera,  began as a stage hit, but took a rollercoaster ride to its pre-eminence as a world-favorite opera. The crowd-pleasing Virginia Opera production of Madama Butterfly carried traces of the opera’s long and unpredictable historic journey to Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House. As near perfection as anything […]

March 16, 2019 – 12:42 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Theater, World Affairs | Comments Off on VIRGINIA OPERA’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY WORKS PUCCINI MAGIC

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG: A PLAY FOR OUR TIME

Of all the types of drama, farce is the most politically incorrect. In fact, according to Aristotle, farce exists to evoke laughter and ridicule toward characters we deem to be  “not normal”. The farceur urges his audience to identify characters as worse than we are in all kinds of ways – socially, physically, morally, intellectually, […]

December 29, 2018 – 2:08 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Current Events, from Paul, History, Quotations, Theater, World Affairs | Comments Off on THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG: A PLAY FOR OUR TIME

THE LONDON PALLADIUM KING AND I: NOT GOOD

The King and I gets  its power from the fact that, at its core, the story is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale. The Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of the musical made that crystal clear when it cast a nice guy where the beast should have been. The tension and suspense […]

November 30, 2018 – 4:05 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Quotations, Theater, World Affairs | Comments Off on THE LONDON PALLADIUM KING AND I: NOT GOOD

MY FIRST TATTOO

No, not that kind of tattoo! I mean the kind of tattoo I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago. The tattoo I mean originated in the England of 1644 as the name for a signal made, by drum beat or bugle call, in the evening for soldiers to return to their quarters, […]

May 2, 2017 – 10:32 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, World Affairs | Comments Off on MY FIRST TATTOO