HOME THEATER, FIFTIES STYLE
MY PARENTS, rest their souls, were home-theater hip in the 1950s. This was a half-century before movie streaming, Amazon Fire, Hulu, Netflix and the like, but our shared experiences remain … Continue reading
ROMAN VILLA FOUND IN BRITAIN
THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 27 BC – 395 AD, extended as far as the British Isles. And, as recently as last week, a huge Roman villa was discovered in Tisbury, Wiltshire, … Continue reading
THE MERRY WIVES OF LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
AS DESCRIBED in the recent HBO documentary “Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper,” one of Gloria’s three husbands was conductor Leopold Stokowski, noted for his recordings of Bach’s … Continue reading
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
