Patrick Clement James is a writer and teacher based in New York City. His love of opera began in high school, leading to studies in vocal performance at the Manhattan School of Music. He currently studies English literature as a Ph.D. student at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and he teaches at Brooklyn College. As a writer, he is particularly interested in the ways that opera participates in the larger contexts of history and culture.
A distinctly American brand of vulgar showmanship
The world is always falling apart. That’s just one of many lessons surfacing in Tony Kushner’s epic Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Read more »
“Get it over with already!”
The Metropolitan Opera honored the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (four hundred and two years ago on Monday) with a revival of Bartlett Sher’s production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. However, with a libretto that stunts Shakespeare’s genius dramatic structure, it was hard to see the opera as an appropriate homage. And that’s despite a capable cast and functional direction. Read more »
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They let their golden chances pass them by.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel is a work of inarguable genius, so perfectly crafted that it almost feels impossible to mess up. If you don’t believe me, then head on down to the Imperial Theater, where Carousel is receiving a Broadway revival in a simple, cautious production that still manages to pack an emotional wallop. Read more »
Why, only now, Cendrillon is having its premiere at the Met is a puzzling question.
It’s fortunate that the Met’s production of Luisa Miller featured the incomparable Piotr Beczala in the role of Rodolfo.
Lucia di Lammermoor, a bloody story of a young woman’s mental degeneracy amidst feuding families, remains Donizetti’s most popular exploration of the landscape and culture of Britain.
As Despina in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Così fan tutte, Kelli O’Hara injects much needed vitality into an otherwise lethargic evening.
I struggle to articulate the notion of an erotics of art.
Cher Public