On the Nurturing of Low-Grade Creativity
What I have to say will come as no surprise. But it will probably offend many of you.* These remarks are long overdue—they spring from having seen too many sow's ears made out of sow's ears. And too much motherly "support" for the arts that is fatal to authentic...
Casting Glances: Odyssey of movie maker Judy Bouley
It's been a long and winding road from Santa Cruz to Hollywood to Kazakhstan and back, but casting director Judy Bouley brought back hair-raising, spine-chilling, and joyous tales from her life in the movies. Casting Glances is the name of her just-released book—soon...
SF Opera Takes on Steve Jobs
A Feel-Good Gloss on the Life of Steve Jobs The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs - San Francisco Opera - September 2023 Part Disney, part Broadway, and surprisingly enjoyable, the musical theater scored with Hollywood dazzle by Mason Bates to text by Mark Campbell will...
Wagner’s Ring, Bayreuth 2023, Family Feud
A Ring for Generation Z by Christina Waters As the final Cycle of Bayreuth's 2023 Ring came to a close, the air remained electric with the sounds of Wagner's apocalyptic horns and the rapture of the Rhine. [see my Operawire review of the Bayreuth Parsifal here.]Camps...
The Budapest Ring
From its first slowly undulating chords to the last sweeping thunder of destruction, Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen carries the listener along on an enveloping artistic journey like no other. The opera anticipated cinema and more than captured the composer's...
Inside the Flame
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.