by Charles Kruger Romantic love may be passionate or not, but in opera, theatre, and novels, we generally prefer passion to mere companionability, although the latter is often what works best in real life couplings, especially over time. But what about a romantic passion that is so overwhelming it is like an illness and seems […]
by Charles Kruger Eugene Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros,” a classic example of Theatre of the Absurd, is a thinly veiled allegory for the unexpected and frightening rise of fascism in communities where it seems most unlikely to occur. The seemingly normal citizens of a small town in France begin, on an otherwise typical Sunday morning, to transform […]
by Charles Kruger Before I saw “The Orphan of Zhao” at the San Francisco International Art Festival on May 24th, I spent the afternoon viewing the Monet retrospective at the De Young Museum. I walked away reflecting on Monet’s genius, and, in particular, the excellence of his technique. The more perfect his technique, I was […]
by Charles Kruger A dancer for over sixty years, Lucia August was formerly a company member of the beloved Bay area dance company, Dandelion Dancetheater, and has several times performed her unique style of storytelling in movement at the Edinburgh Fringe, where reviewers described her as “a dancer of tremendous joy.” Her work has been […]
by Charles Kruger Jessica Fudim is known to be eccentric. Improvisation is typical of her work as artistic director of the Dance Animals. In every performance, she leaves room for the unexpected. Fudim and the Dance Animals blossomed as part of the legendary Queer community at Mama Carizo’s Voice Factory, whose influence remains alive and […]
by Charles Kruger “Jazz” — a four letter word that is, surely, one of the most evocative of all the words in American English. It can send chills down the spine of any sensitive auditor. That short “a,” surrounded by two voiced fricatives, is capable of endless elongation and variation. Like the music it names, […]
by Charles Kruger Surely, there is nothing new under the sun. And surely it is the new that creative artists must seek, and hopefully achieve. Do you detect a contradiction? Of course you do. Creative artists are in the business of resolving this contradiction by combining the ancient, the tried, and the true in ever […]
