Josmar16

LATEST ARTICLES ( 436 )

• Everything Verdi: ‘La Traviata,’ ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Ernani,’ ‘Don Carlo,’ and Other...

  

  Scenes from Verdi’s Ernani (Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera)“Ernani, Ernani, Envolami”Moving on to the April 4 transmission of Verdi’s Ernani, that old flu bug hi... Read more

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

• ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962) — He for Whom Nothing is Written

  

  Auda (Anthony Quinn), Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) Ali (Omar Sharif) in Lawrence of ArabiaWhat makes a film a classic? A better question to ask is: what makes a... Read more

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

• ‘Don Giovanni’ — Mozart’s Opera Comes to Supper in North Carolina

  

  North Carolina Opera production of Don Giovanni (All Photos: courtesy of North Carolina Opera)At the final performance of April 26, 2015 of Mozart’s Don... Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Bossa Nova’ — Carioca Love Story: The Rio of One’s Dreams

  

  Doing the Bossa NovaPedro Paulo (Antonio Fagundes) Mary Ann (Amy Irving) in Bossa NovaWhile Walter Salles’ Central Station attempts to bind up old wounds... Read more

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

• Everything Verdi: ‘La Traviata,’ ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Ernani,’ ‘Don Carlo,’ and Other...

  

  The Wayward World of OperaLady Macbeth (Anna Netrebko) Macbeth (Zeljko Lucic) at the MetThis has been a lukewarm season for live opera on the radio and in... Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939) — A War Epic Without the War

  

  The plantation Tara, with Scarlett and her father, in Gone With the Wind (1939)Today, it’s hard to fathom that Margaret Mitchell’s best-selling fictional... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Matinees with Mozart: ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ and ‘Don Giovanni’ at the Met

  

  Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days The Marriage of Figaro with Danielle De Niese (Susanna) and Erwin Schrott (Figaro)What opera lover wouldn’t mind spending a lazy... Read more

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

• ‘Network’ — Madder Than Hell (And Loving Every Minute of It)

  

  Peter Finch as Howard Beale in NetworkFor satire to be truly effective it must consist of the following elements: irony, wit, sarcasm, parody, exaggeration,... Read more

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

• ‘Chinatown’ — What Happens to Nosey Fellows

  

  Jake (Jack Nicholson) chatting with Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) in ChinatownIn the same year that Paramount was touting The Godfather, Part II as a Best Picture... Read more

  Posted on 24 February 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Les Contes d’Hoffmann’ — The Unfinished Tale of Jacques Offenbach’s Last Opera

  

  The Poetic ConnectionVittorio Grigolo as Hoffmann (Marty Sohl / Met Opera)An immensely prolific nineteenth-century creator of opérettes and opéras-bouffes, Jaco... Read more

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

• ‘The Searchers’— A Western Wanderlust of Fear and Loathing

  

  Jeffrey Hunter John Wayne in The Searchers (1956)Which of the many movies John Ford directed throughout his life can be called his greatest? Some critics migh... Read more

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

• ‘Die Meistersinger’ at the Met — Maestro Levine Wins the Master’s Prize

  

  Pause for EffectMichael Volle as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger (Ken Howard / Met Opera)During the years 1857 to about 1869, Richard Wagner decided to take a... Read more

  Posted on 24 January 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Through the Dark of Night’ (‘Pela Escuridão’): The Songs of ‘7 – The Musical’

  

  Fairy Tales Can Come TrueThe original cast of 7 – The MusicalWith the box-office success of the Disney Studios’ film adaptation (directed by Rob Marshall) of... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2015 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• A Bel Canto Bonanza (Conclusion) — Rossini a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: ‘La...

  

  When One Season Ends, Another BeginsJoyce DiDonato in La Cenerentola (Ken Howard / Met Opera)That’s how it is with opera: as soon as we marvel at how well the... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2014 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Leading Man on Fire — A Denzel Washington Primer (Part Three): ‘Glory’ Days

  

  Pvt. Trip (Denzel Washington) in Glory (1989)There was a time in Denzel Washington’s young life when he had entertained notions of becoming a preacher. After... Read more

  Posted on 22 December 2014 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• A Bel Canto Bonanza — Bellini’s ‘La Sonnambula’ and ‘I Puritani,’ Rossini’s ‘La...

  

  It’s All in the PresentationNatalie Dessay in the “Made Scene” from Lucia di Lammermoor (Ken Howard / Met Opera)A word or two are in order about the conductor o... Read more

  Posted on 20 December 2014 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• Opera Goes to Hollywood, the Sequel — Short Takes, Outtakes, and Out-and-Out...

  

  Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy in New MoonA year or two back, I published a series of articles devoted to the incongruities of opera stars appearing or being... Read more

  Posted on 14 December 2014 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• A Bel Canto Bonanza — The Met Presents Bellini’s ‘La Sonnambula’ and ‘I...

  

  Diana Damrau (center) and Javier Camarena (left) in La Sonnambula (Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera)Figaro Here, Figaro There, Figaro EverywhereHow much has... Read more

  Posted on 28 November 2014 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘The Graduate’ — Mike Nichol’s Homage to Wayward Youth

  

  The Graduate (1967)Note to readers: In homage to director Mike Nichol’s recent passing at age 83, I am re-running one of my earlier blog post regarding his... Read more

  Posted on 23 November 2014 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA

• ‘Alien’ Trilogy — The Stuff of Nightmares and Wet Dreams (Part One)

  

  There comes a point in every monster movie — and we have been privy to a spate of them in recent years — where the monster shows itself to its intended victim. Read more

  Posted on 08 November 2014 CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, THEATRE & OPERA