OPERA PUPPETRY
I’VE BEEN enjoying puppets in operas. Not puppet operas per se, where all the characters are controlled by puppeteers, but rather operatic productions making use of puppets interacting with real … Continue reading
NOËL COWARD’S JAMAICA
A COMPELLING image of Noël Coward is one of elegance at a theater in London’s West End or maybe in glittering Las Vegas. Yet one of the most urbane of … Continue reading
THE ULTIMATE URBAN TRANSPORT
GIVEN THAT R&T had been accused of being Anglophilic and traditional, what more appropriate test than that of an 18th-century sedan chair? And, as was our custom, we performed this … Continue reading
ORSON WELLES FOR PRESIDENT!
NOT THAT there aren’t elements of unreality about this year’s presidential campaigns, but here I present Fantasy Politics, an entertaining blend of fact and fiction. Indeed, mostly fact. Orson Welles … Continue reading
HEMINGWAY DECKED; FITZGERALD BLAMED
YES, HEMINGWAY as in Earnest and Fitzgerald as in F. Scott. I experienced a frisson of excitement when I learned of this odd boxing match in the “Letters” column of … Continue reading
THE LONDON UNDERGROUND—REDEFINED
THE TERM London Underground used to mean only this city’s subterranean transportation system. But cost of development has prompted some super wealthy Londoners to enhance their residences downward. In Hyde … Continue reading
THE TALE (AND SCENES) OF GENJI
THE TALE OF GENJI is noteworthy for several reasons: This 11th-century work of Japanese literature has been called the world’s first novel. It was more than just a tale; its … Continue reading
DECO DREAMING
I’M LISTENING to a CD of contralto Nathalie Stutzmann singing the songs of Francis Poulenc, and it’s giving me daydreams of Art Deco. This design style, short for Arts Décoratifs, … Continue reading
RED SCARE MADNESS—THE FIFTIES
THE OCCASIONAL CRAZINESS of modern days reminds me from time to time about the Red Scare during the 1950s. Its hysteria included the Hollywood blacklists, as explored in the current … Continue reading
THE HAUDENOSAUNEE
WHO WOULD think that researching the Watkins Glen race circuit would lead to the Iroquois Confederacy and a debunking of a Longfellow poem? And what about the Hiawatha Belt? Benjamin … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 