ABDUCTING HAMLET
“HAMLET IN MODERN DRESS” has become a cliche of untraditional theater and opera. Here are a few tidbits about several innovative efforts. In fact, one of the performances, Mozart’s opera … Continue reading
AARRGGHH! A DIVA ROLE? AND OTHER RASCALS
I’M STREAMING VERDI’S Don Carlo as I write this. What with its complex historical theme, I’m foregoing my somnambulant practice of trusting subliminal awakening at the opera’s juicy parts. This … Continue reading
MY SOCIAL DISTANCING THE RING OF THE NIBELUNGEN
LIKE SO MANY other organizations, cultural and otherwise, the Metropolitan Opera has cancelled the remainder of its 2019-2020 season, including all performances and, hence, Live in HD transmissions. Met Streaming. … Continue reading
OUR NATIONAL ADDLED UNCLE
IT IS A concern when an addled uncle upsets family gatherings with irrationality on one thing or another. It is even more an embarrassment when our national leader behaves this … Continue reading
PASTIME WITH GOOD COMPANY
GIVEN COVID-19’S SUGGESTED pastime at home sans company, I got to thinking about fulfilling ways to hunker down. Recently here I cited armchair travel. Today, tidbits touch on Henry VIII … Continue reading
ON EQUALITY, MATHWISE AND OTHERWISE PART 2
WHAT BEGAN yesterday at SimanaitisSays as a math discussion takes a decidedly cultural turn today. The equality symbol “=” joins two things that are of the same value. And this … Continue reading
RALLY ’ROUND THE FLAG PART 2
YESTERDAY’S FLAG LORE had theories and practices of political science, religion, combustion, and inversion. Today in Part 2, the flag is monochromatically bland, though we’ll see that white flags have … Continue reading
THE BALSAMO/CAGLIOSTRO SAGA PART 3
WERE THE COUNT and Countess Cagliostros merely 18th-century proto-Eurotrash? Or is this too strong an assessment? Here in Part 3, we conclude with more tidbits gleaned from faust.com. The Affair … Continue reading
THE BALSAMO/CAGLIOSTRO SAGA PART 2
YESTERDAY, HERE AT SimanaitisSays, 18th-century conman Giuseppe Balsamo and his wife Serafina were in Cadiz, Spain. He had just “acquired” an expensive walking stick set with diamonds in its handle … Continue reading
THE BALSAMO/CAGLIOSTRO SAGA PART 1
MODERN CONMEN ARE short-fingered vulgarians compared to Giuseppe/Joseph Balsamo aka the Count Alessandro di Cagliostro. This 18th-century scam artist was in no particular order, a mystic, magician, gigolo, pimp, Coptic … Continue reading
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