In memory of Inelda Tajo

I met Inelda and Italo Tajo in 1967, when I transferred from Juilliard to CCM, just so I could study with my idol, Italo Tajo. Practically from day one the Tajo’s embraced me as surrogate parents, first as a bachelor, and then with Kimberly, my wife of forty years. Inelda and Italo were much [...]

Summer Events

This summer, in addition to our various presentations of Theater by the Book (go to www.theaterbythebook.org) I will be working with City Theatre (go to www.citytheatre.com ) at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
The two-program Summer Shorts runs from May 29 to June 22, 2008 in Miami and features in program “A” a [...]

Diversión doble

DANIEL FERNANDEZ
El Nuevo Herald Publicado el jueves 17 de abril del 2008
Por supuesto que la mayoría eran alumnos a quienes les falta todavía un buen tramo por recorrer en el duro camino del arte; pero no por ello hay que pasar por alto un esfuerzo tan digno como la doble producción que se presentó el [...]

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI FROST OPERA THEATER DOUBLE BILL

MOZART’S BASTIEN AND BASTIENNE
in a double-bill with
PURCELL’S DIDO AND AENEAS
Frost Opera Theater concludes its critically acclaimed 2007-08 season when Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas share the stage at the University of Miami’s Gusman Hall in a fully staged double-bill, accompanied by members of the Frost Symphony Orchestra.
Mozart’s early childhood opera arrives [...]

Special theater awards

From Christine Dolen’s blog Drama Queen: (http://miamiherald.typepad.com/drama_queen/theater)
Each year South Florida’s theater community — well, a great deal of it, from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County — gathers at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts to recognize some of the best work done at the region’s many theaters during the previous year. The annual [...]

All Academia’s a Stage

Rafael de Acha
With thanks to William Shakespeare
All Academia’s a Stage
And all the Ph. D’s merely players:
They have their exits, if not tenured,
And one Prof in his time plays many parts,
His lectures being simply endless.
At first, the Freshman, mewling and puking in th’advisor’s arms,
And then the shining Sophomore,
With his backpack and sourpuss at 8 AM class,
Creeping [...]

A veteran returns

From Christine Dolen’s blog Drama Queen: (http://miamiherald.typepad.com/drama_queen/theater)
When Rafael de Acha abruptly left his job as artistic director of New Theatre in April 2006, one of the reasons he gave was the desire to spend more time enjoying life with his wife (and New Theatre co-founder), actress and college prof Kimberly Daniel.

Both artists have been through [...]

Verdi and Shakespeare

Rafael de Acha © 2008
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago, the arch-enemy of his professed friend Othello, hyphenated low-life, evil-incarnate, bottom-feeder, low-grade officer and greatest anti-hero of all time – obliquely hints at what makes him tick. This happens at the onset of the play, in the Venetian scene with which Verdi dispensed in his opera.
Shakespeare provides [...]

My All-time Favorite Desert Island Opera Videos

Rafael de Acha © 2008
Opera and opera recordings and opera singers are like anything else that appeals primarily to the senses and only secondarily to the brain: it all is rather personal, quirky, and irrational. One man’s potion = another man’s poison.
So, when it comes to making a selection of video recordings that will accompany [...]

An open letter to Chris Dolen

Re: Playhouse drafts comeback plan (Miami Herald)
Hello Chris! As usual you are out there fighting the good fight. I salute you and thank you. I find, however, some deeply wrong-headed concepts at work (or failing to work) in the would-be proposal, as described by you.It would be interesting to see what AMS Planning really plans [...]