MET OPERA’S FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS ENCHANTS WITH BEAUTY AND IMAGINATION

Composer Daniel Catan has been quoted as saying that he needed ” to write music that was seductive, glittering, and mesmerizing.” His opera Florencia en el Amazonas ia a welcome and enchanting addition to the world’s operatic contemporary repertoire, which has been dominated by nihilistic interpretations of classic operas. The libretto is by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, […]


LYRIC’S DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT IS A DELIGHTFUL ROMP

Before discussing Gaetano Donizetti and the lovely new production of The Daughter of The Regiment now playing at the Lyric Opera, time must be taken to remember the most exciting production of the Donizetti opera ever to play in Chicago. Only sixty-four days following the surrender of General Lee to General Grant, thus ending the […]


LYRIC OPERA OFFERS BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL JENUFA

Confession, repentance, and forgiveness are in woefully short supply in today’s world. So it comes as no small pleasure to find them the bedrocks upon which Leos Janacek built his amazing opera, now wowing audiences at the Lyric Opera The Moravian composer Leos Janacek (1854-1928) would be called a “late-bloomer” in today’s slang. He was […]


THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LEHMAN. THE LEHMAN TRILOGY AS GREEK TRAGEDY, AMERICAN STYLE

On February 10, 1949, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman premiered at New York’s Morosco Theatre. Seventeen days later the New York Times published an essay by Miller entitled, “Tragedy and The Common Man.” From that time on, high school and college students would discuss the possibility of an American tragedy: Can a classical tragedy […]


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 […]