Category Archives: Random Observations
Wigging out on post-Spoleto wraps
Spoleto 2007 is an historical artifact at this point, but that hasn’t stopped commentators and critics from picking through the bones and offering up big picture post facto overviews. At The State, arts reporter Jeffrey Day’s wrap landed last Wednesday — the same day as my own postmortem hit the streets — but I just [...]
The poster boy finally gets his day
Composer Philip Glass has just enough of a mix of pop culture caché and serious classical cred to make the premiere of his Book of Longing last night one of the ’07 festival’s top must-be-seen-at events. After all, the man’s face is plastered on every available surface across the peninsula; he’s more recognizable than Bono [...]
This Wei and that Wei
Despite gale-force winds, sideways rain, and the very real threat of becoming an impromptu flying projectile, I ventured out to see Shen Wei Dance Arts’ “Connect Transfer” at the Gaillard Saturday night. Outside, there was a chaos of thunder and lightening; inside, Shen Wei and his dancers delivered an work of abstract, sublime beauty that [...]
Hotter than Dutch love
The twenty-something hipster quotient at Friday’s Spoleto Soiree was off the charts and into another realm altogether. You could have powered a small city for a week on the sexual energy crackling around the Gaillard Exhibition Hall, fueled by several open bars, pulse-punding ung-cha-ung-cha from a DJ in the corner, enough liquor to fill the [...]
Forecast: damp
Lest anyone down here forget that today marks the first official day of hurricane season, Mother Nature’s provided us a gentle reminder: showers today a beautiful day today, despite predictions to the contrary this morning, and but scattered thunderstorms through Tuesday.
How to make sure you’re never invited to guest star on 30 Rock
This Spoleto Buzz blogger, having in recent days created a permanent indentation in his computer chair the size and shape of his backside, spent yesterday evening on the Piccolo trail, specifically that section of it carved out by Theatre 99 and their lunatic Fringe. At 7pm I was at Theatre 99 for a nearly sold [...]
Crashing The Gate
Yesterday’s second Conversations With program was billed as featuring cast members from the Gate Theatre’s production of The Constant Wife. It didn’t, but nobody was complaining, at least not within earshot. What audiences got instead was a very smart conversation with Wife director Alan Stanford (also an actor with the company) and the Gate’s artistic [...]
Vive la revolution! Power to the people!
Ticketmaster seems to have cleared up the problems last weekend that were leading it to tell hopeful Piccolo-goers that a variety of shows were sold out when in fact there were plenty of seats still available. The snafu was, understandably, sending show producers across the festival program into apoplectic fits. The situation was exacerbated by [...]
The festival catches its breath
After four wild days of nonstop, balls-to-the-wall, pedal-to-the-floor intensity, both Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto take a breather today, and thank god. The big operas all have their premieres behind them. The main play, The Constant Wife, settles into its 19-show run with a clutch of hyperbolic reviews in its pocket. Chamber Music and an [...]
Getting forensic on Spoleto 2007
The 31st Spoleto Festival USA is officially in the past tense. It’s now time to get forensic on the thing. But that’s less easy than it sounds. Part of the difficulty in summing up the festival after the fact lies in its nature; as Mayor Riley noted during the mid-festival tribute to founder Gian Carlo [...]