Tag: Performing Arts

Theater Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors’: Artistic Director Gaines Retires With a Laugh

CHICAGO—After 37 years as artistic director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Barbara Gaines has directed all of Shakespeare’s 28 plays. She is now retiring, but her last production is not one of the Bard’s tragedies or histories, but a laugh-out-loud farce. In her good-bye production, Gaines is revisiting “The Comedy of Errors,” which she directed…


Theater Review: ‘I Love My Family, But…’

NEW YORK—You can love them, hate them, tolerate them, or accept them but, one way or another, a family figures into everyone’s life. This is the premise of the new musical, “I Love My Family, but… .” Written by Brandon Lambert (book, music, and lyrics) and Lauren Gundrum (book and lyrics), the show can now be…


Opera Review: ‘Carmen’: The Lyric Opera House’s Searing and Passionate Production

CHICAGO—“Carmen” has a tragic ending as did the opera’s composer Georges Bizet (1838–1875). In his lifetime, he considered himself a failure, for when his last opera, “Carmen,” was mounted in Paris in 1875, it received poor support from the public. After all, Parisians were not pleased at the sight of gypsy characters and women smoking…


Escape!: The Story of Harry Houdini

Even today, nearly a century after his death, we say his name. The dog gets out of the yard, or the baby out of the playpen, and someone will say: “That little Houdini!” The name still stands for “magician” the way “Fido” stands for “dog.” The funny thing is, Houdini wasn’t really a magician. Or…


Shen Yun’s Jisung Kim Seeks to Tell Timeless Stories Through Universal Art

The speed at which Shen Yun Performing Arts catapulted to world renown since stepping onto the performing arts scene in 2006 has sparked worldwide interest. Perhaps one of the reasons for its steady success is that New York-based Shen Yun is composed of serious artists, the kind who see this not just as a craft,…


Shen Yun Conveys Purity at a Spiritual Level, Says Dancer

SEVILLA, Spain—Professional dancer Alejandra Sabena watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Cartuja Center Cite on March 9. “There are no words—it’s amazing,” said Ms. Sabena. “The show’s stage design is wonderful … the great professionalism of the dancers, musicians, the acting, the costumes—it’s perfection wherever you want to look!” Based in New York, Shen…


The Enduring Charm of the ‘Magic Flute’

In a distant land filled with magic and perils, a prince and his companion set out on a brave quest to free an imprisoned princess from the forces of evil. But nothing is quite what it seems in this world, not even night and day. This is the story of “The Magic Flute” (“Die Zauberflöte”),…


More People Have to See What Shen Yun Performers Are Doing, Says TV Producer

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Todd Hewey, a producer for Christian television station Inspiration Ministries, and Jill Horton, a special education teacher, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center the evening March 4. The couple had high praise for the performance, which they found very inspirational. Mr. Hewey appreciated many aspects of…


Theatre Review: ‘Asi Wind’s Inner Circle’: Prepare to be amazed!

NEW YORK—The old saying “pick a card, any card” may be a more than a little timeworn, but in the hands of a master magician, it’s completely spot-on.  The master Asi Wind proves this point in his show “Inner Circle,” now running off-Broadway at The Gym at Judson. Handling a deck of cards with the…


Composer Praises Shen Yun’s Music and Musicians

SALT LAKE CITY—The beauty in music is the magic of all the instruments working in harmony to create luscious music, and who can understand this better than a composer? Gary Thomas, a musician and composer, with his family, Kirsten and Hope, came to experience Shen Yun Performing Arts at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles…