by Charles Kruger Piaf! At the name, my heart flutters. Doesn’t yours? If not, then I suspect you’ve never heard a recording of the musical soul of France, perhaps the greatest torch singer in the history of recorded song, who rose from busking on the streets of Paris to perform in many of the world’s […]
by Charles Kruger
by Charles Kruger To begin with, everybody who knows the Frank Capra movie (and who doesn’t, if they are drawn to attend this opera) brings a lot of baggage to the party. Will George Bailey sing “Buffalo Gals?” Will there be a “Hee Haw” aria? Will the opera be too cute and sentimental? Will it […]
by Charles Kruger Award winning local playwright Christopher Chen is a rising star on the regional theatre circuit, his plays being produced both in the Bay area (Cutting Ball Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory) on the East Coast (Long Wharf Theatre), and points in between. Last year, he was part of SF Playhouse’s popular […]
by Charles Kruger East Bay (Saturday Night) East Bay opera fans may want to attend a one-off concert performance on Saturday night benefitting Vallejo’s Verismo opera, featuring the company’s founder and artistic director, tenor Frederick Winthrop, and soprano Cecilia X. Cai. Verismo opera has recently received rave notices for their remarkable production of the classics […]
by Charles Kruger Theatergoer, if you take an interest in the avante garde, in experimental theatre, in art theatre, in the kind of theatre that goes well beyond the everyday and reaches for greatness, I urge you to go see Ubuntu Theater Project’s extraordinary, inspiring, mind boggling world premiere production of “Pool of Unknown Wonders: […]
by Charles Kruger In the 19th and early 20th centuries, as realism came to the fore of theatrical culture, opera composers were quick to follow suit. Composers sensitive to the new style created “Opera Verismo” (“true opera”) telling real stories of real people, sometimes sordid and tragic (think of “Carmen”), sometimes noble and tragic (think […]
