The Vargas Blog

The official blog of Vincent's Casablanca HomePage and Wagner Operas. Click the links below to explore my sites.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Finally a good-fitting tenor at the MET

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When I started going to the opera back when I was a teenager, I heard that Francesco Cilea 's Adriana Lecouvreur was a second rate wo...
1 comment:
Sunday, December 30, 2018

New TRAVIATA at the MET

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The new production of Verdi' s La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera tries really hard to please New York's Old Guard: the ones ...
Saturday, December 01, 2018

Wildlife: Fire and Water

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Primal elements, fire and water, are the catalysts that erupt into primal desires in Wildlife , Paul Dano 's brilliant directorial deb...
Monday, November 26, 2018

Burning - a film by Lee Chang-don

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A film about obsession, where one of the main characters follows another in a car through the streets of an exotic city; and where the mai...
Sunday, November 04, 2018

BOY ERASED with Hedges, Crowe and Kidman

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Boy Erased is not the first film this year to tackle the thorny subject of conversion therapy. This film, featuring three Hollywood A-list...
Monday, October 29, 2018

Guadagnino's SUSPIRIA

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Luca Guadagnino , the much-praised director of Call Me By your Name returns to the theme of inter-generational relationships in his rethi...
Sunday, October 28, 2018

THE FERRYMAN on Broadway

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From London comes last year's West End hit, The Ferryman , Jezz Butterworth 's titanic play about the Troubles in Northern Ireland...
2 comments:
Monday, October 15, 2018

NYFF: At Eternity's Gate

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The director of At Eternity's Gate , Julian Schnabel became a sensation during the 1980s with his "plate paintings:" large ...
Monday, October 08, 2018

A Star is Born: this time with Cooper and Gaga

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There’s s great line in Bradley Cooper ’s new film A Star is Born referring to music being just twelve notes, “and the story repeats agai...
Saturday, October 06, 2018

NYFF: Roma

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We will never know the meaning of everything that's in the new film Roma , Alfonso Cuarón 's loving black-and-white recreation of ...
Thursday, October 04, 2018

NYFF: THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs , the latest film from Joel and Ethan Coen , is a rare, strange beast. An anthology film consisting of separa...
Monday, October 01, 2018

Aïda at the MET

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This is my second visit to the Metropolitan Opera in one week. My first visit was the MET’s opening night, and now I'm back here on Sat...
1 comment:
Tuesday, September 25, 2018

SAMSON ET DALILA: Opening night of the MET

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The years have not been kind to Roberto Alagna 's voice. As a matter of fact, I worry about his career, I think he is all washed up. T...
Saturday, September 08, 2018

The Man of the Hour: CARLOS RAMOS

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Carlos Ramos , the Portuguese tennis umpire, became the man of the hour when he was on the chair for the Serena Williams / Naomi Osaka fi...
Thursday, August 30, 2018

The US Open is in Action, but why isn't the Roof?

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This has been a summer where the heat has plagued events that are close and dear to my heart. My trip to the Bayreuth Festival this year ...
Tuesday, August 21, 2018

BlacKkKlansman is the latest from Spike Lee

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An incredible, almost unbelievable real cop story about the infiltration of a backwaters Ku Klux Klan chapter by a rookie black undercover...
Friday, August 17, 2018

Castellucci brings Salome to Salzburg

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Romeo Castellucci is a director of deep, abstract ideas.  His stage productions are abstractions that constantly ask the audience to thin...
Saturday, August 11, 2018

My third PARSIFAL at Bayreuth

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The current production of Parsifal , now in its third year, replaced the Stefan Herheim staging I was lucky to see in 2012. That producti...
Tuesday, August 07, 2018

The New LOHENGRIN at Bayreuth

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The new production of Lohengrin , with sets and costumes by husband-and-wife team of Neo Rauch and Rosa Loy promised the first swan knig...
1 comment:
Monday, August 06, 2018

Meistersinger 2.0 at Bayreuth

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One of the highlights of last year’s trip to Bayreuth was attending Barrie Kosky ’s new production of Die Meistersin...
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Vincent Vargas
Vincent Vargas is a retired foreign language and film history teacher from New York City. He runs websites dedicated to Casablanca (www.vincasa.com) and Richard Wagner (www.wagneroperas.com).
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