by Charles Kruger Richard The Third is one of Shakespeare’s most popular characters for good reason. As purely evil as Iago, Richard’s charming personality and delight in villainy make him fascinate audiences. Few actors could resist the chance to embody him. Certainly not Danny Scheie, a Bay area Shakespearean stalwart. The beloved UC Santa Cruz […]
by Charles Kruger The moment Maestro David Drummond lowered his baton and the Lamplighters Orchestra attacked a perfectly articulated, well-paced, and modulated performance of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s delightful overture to “The Pirates of Penzance,” I began to shiver with delight. Drummond is an extraordinary conductor, and his thorough understanding of Sullivan’s music brought revelation after […]
by Charles Kruger Even the most determined opera resister will have heard of “I Pagliacci,” the tragic story of a clown, told in Ruggero Leoncavallo’s great one-act masterpiece of opera “verismo” (“realistic” opera about common people). Fewer will be familiar with “Cavalleria Rusticana,” another one act verismo masterpiece by Pietro Mascagni, both dating from the […]
by Charles Kruger Three hapless proofreaders, their harried boss, and a mysterious character named “that guy” who does little else but toss paper airplanes from behind a glass partition, work in the dismal basement of a Washington D.C. advertising agency. Stuck in a dead end situation, with failing power (the lights are constantly flickering), they […]
by Charles Kruger There can be no doubt that Cristina García, author of five novels, and a National Book Award nominee, is a writer of very considerable talent. And by all accounts, her novel, “King of Cuba,” which she has now adopted into a play, is an admirable work. As incarnated on the stage of […]
by Gary Gonser Jack London’s Credo, “the function of man is to live,” is translated into dance for delighted audiences in this resplendent production. Salsa, French, Romantic, Tango, 60’s Jive, 40’s Jive, Modern, Broadway musical, and cool. Seventeen dancer/singers are backed-up with a band of twelve that plays the hot and the cold with luxurious […]
by Charles Kruger “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” is generally considered to be one of Shakespeare’s least successful plays; so much so that some scholars wonder if he wrote it at all. The famous “First Folio” of Shakespeare’s plays (selected and published by his acting company shortly after his death) did not include “Pericles,” and most […]
