Josmar16

LATEST ARTICLES ( 436 )

• ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968) — Man Losing His Humanity

  

  “I am a HAL 9000 computer” from 2001: A Space OdysseyStanley Kubrick’s timeless visionary epic, originally billed (and titled) as a “journey beyond the stars,”... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Madama Butterfly’ — North Carolina Opera Triumphs with Puccini’s Japanese...

  

  Lunch and LearnSharpless reading Pinkerton’s letter to Cio-Cio-San, from Act II of Madama ButterflyI mentioned in my previous post, regarding Puccini and North... Read more

  Posted on 22 November 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘The Godfather, Part II’ (1974) — The Dark Dream Lives On: A Tale of Two Men

  

  Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (Paramount Pictures)At three hours and twenty minutes, The Godfather, Part II is almost as long as David... Read more

  Posted on 19 November 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Madama Butterfly’ — North Carolina Opera Triumphs with Puccini’s Japanese...

  

  Flower Duet from Act II of NCO’s production of Madama Butterfly (Photo: Curtis Brown)I Remember It Well…Okay, so it wasn’t the Metropolitan Opera’s critically... Read more

  Posted on 14 November 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Edward Scissorhands’ (1990) — Sensitive and Scarred in California

  

  Wynona Ryder embracing Johnny Depp as Edward ScissorhandsThis is the movie that firmly cemented heartthrob actor Johnny Depp’s teen-idol “creds,” and with good... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘The Godfather, Part I’ (1972) — The Dark of Side of the American Dream

  

  Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) speaks to Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto) in The Godfather, Part I“I believe in America,” an unseen voice exclaims. Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Welcome to Sherwood, My Lady’ — ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ (1938)

  

  Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) Will Scarlett (Patric Knowles) in The Adventures of Robin HoodThough filmed in the “wilds” of the California hills — in a 2400 acre... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Belle of the Masked Ball — ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’ and the Met’s Continuing...

  

  Gustavo’s death scene, Act III, of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (Beth Bergman)Lost in TranslationWhen last we left the Metropolitan Opera radio season, which fo... Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Lost Navigator: Michael Richards — A Story of Redemption Through Art

  

  Michael Richards Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian (Photo: Frank Stewart / The Studio Museum in Harlem)The clock-radio went off at 7:45 a.m. on the morning of... Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Another Opening, Another Met Opera Show: Ringing in the New 2015-2016 Broadcast...

  

  So Many Choices, So Little Time…Aleksandrs Antonenko as Otello, the Moor of Venice (Photo: Met Opera)When one radio season ends, another begins. Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• New Met Productions of ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ and ‘Pagliacci’ — Two Operas Joine...

  

  ‘Si può?’ — ‘If I may?’George Gagnidze as Tonio in the Prologue to Pagliacci (Photo: Met Opera)Returning to the topic at hand, verismo (or “realism,” in th... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• New Productions of ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ and ‘Pagliacci’ — Two Operas Joined...

  

  Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Act II (Photo: Cory Weaver/Met Opera)“Reality…What a Concept!”Starting off a review of the Metropolitan Opera’s last new production of... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Is There a Doctor in the Opera House? — ‘Don Carlo,’ ‘Un Ballo in Maschera,’...

  

  “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind”Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Rodrigo Barbara Frittoli as Elisabetta in Verdi’s Don CarloAll season long, the Metropolitan Opera has... Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Met Opera Odds and Ends: ‘Carmen,’ ‘Manon,’ and the World According to Opera

  

  Yesterday and TodayDiana Damrau as Manon Vittorio Grigolo as Des Grieux (Ken Howard/Met Opera)What relevance does opera have for present-day audiences? Read more

  Posted on 19 July 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Mefistofele’ — ‘Ecco Il Mondo’: The Devil’s in the Details of Boito’s Opera...

  

  “The Play’s the Thing!”Mefistofele Act One, Scene i (Teatro Massimo di Palermo)In the previous background section devoted to the development of the operas Faust... Read more

  Posted on 21 June 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Mad, Mad, the World’s Gone Mad’ — Wagner’s ‘Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg’ as...

  

  Act Three: “The Dr. Phil Show”Randy Jackson (a.k.a. Hans Sachs) in The Mastersingers of Los AngelesFirst Scene of Act Three: The setting is inside Randy... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Met Opera Odds and Ends: The Works I Couldn’t Miss — and Those I Wish I Had

  

  Anna Netrebko in the Met’s Anna BolenaWhat an odd title for a piece about radio and HD broadcasts of obscure or rarely performed works by the Metropolitan Opera... Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Twelve Angry Men (1957): Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

  

  Twelve Angry Men (1957)A powerful look into the American criminal justice system and the mysterious ways of jury deliberation and manipulation, the much lauded... Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Met Opera Double Bill: ‘Iolanta’ and ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ — A Toast to the...

  

  Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle at the Met (Marty Sohl / Met Opera)The live Met Opera season is over for now, but the work of reviewing has... Read more

  Posted on 30 May 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘A Star is Born’ (1954): No Pot of Gold at the End of Judy Garland’s Rainbow

  

  James Mason Judy Garland in A Star is Born (1954)In reading critic and author David Thomson’s The Big Screen, a book about the history of motion pictures, I... Read more

  Posted on 25 May 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA