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review of The Trumpiad
November 16, 2018
"To mash the pie of truth into the face of power": such, the poet declares in the opening sentence of a prose preface, was his purpose embarking on The Trumpiad, mock epic to end all mock epics of our Gilded Orange Age. A certain slapdash quality goes with the territory. In the back-of-book acknowledgments of supporters and advisers—"too numerous," endless roll call notwithstanding, "to enumerate"—the author takes ceremonial ownership of any "clubfoot rhythms and imperfect rhymes."
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Catching up with Catch of the Day
What we played on October 7, October 28, and November 4
November 4, 2018
Listed below are the tracks we played on October 7, October 28, and November 4.
Keepers
Rolling Down to Old Maui – Kimo Nevius (kimosongs.com, 2018)
Rolling down to old Maui (traditional)/The Other Side of the World/Lahaina Town
Whaling is a closed chapter in Hawaii, thank goodness. Yet it's good to hear some old stories, recaptured and performed with gruff authority by a talented local songwriter-troubadour. The CD comes with an informative album of photographs, notes, and lyrics.
*
Anima Sacra– Jakub Józef Orliński, countertenor (Erato, 2019)
Il Pomo D'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
Smanie di dolci affetti... S'una sol lagrima (Zelenka)
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Speak for yourself, Conrad!
A postscript on Opera as Opera
October 26, 2018
As far as I can see, commentary on Conrad L. Osborne's doomsday book Opera as Opera: The State of the Art, including my own, has focused on his arguments. As well it should. The tone of the reviews to date has been reverential, in my view justly so.
But in a private communication, a well-placed critic of my acquaintance suggests that Osborne's diagnosis is too bleak, that he makes too great a fuss over singers, and that it ought to have been possible to find some example of contemporary Regietheater of which he could approve.
The way I see it, these objections are without merit.
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So, what exactly will it be when the wind blows?
Revisiting Catch of the Day, rounds #38 and #39
September 5, 2018
Here's a recap of our playlist for August 26. Notes on our tracks for September 2 appear below the space break.
The history of our musical theater has few scandals to set beside that of the catch-as-catch-can unveiling of the Lefty agitprop vaudeville The Cradle Will Rock, book, lyrics, music, and orchestrations by Marc Blitzstein. Conceived in the spirit of the Threepenny Opera and produced by the federally funded Federal Theatre Project (those were the days!), the show nearly tanked at the eleventh hour, when Washington pulled the plug.
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review of Celestial bodies: How to look at ballet
August 28, 2018 • Amazon Reader Reviews
Full disclosure: Laura Jacobs and I have been talking dance (and theater and music...) for decades now. So, don't expect me to be impartial—not when I'm quoted, listed in her index, and most handsomely singled out in the acknowledgments. That's not to say I don't have an honest opinion, so if you're interested, read on.
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Books by Matthew Gurewitsch
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