10 July 26

This week has been "Paddington Bear Camp" for grandchildren B and E. Today we are going to their stage production at Lexington Children's Theater! So I'm wearing my drama-masks tie.

26 January 23

The wonderful musical Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway on this date in 1988. Thirty-five years later, the Majestic Theatre has announced the closing of the longest-running show in Broadway history, on 16 April 2023. Beth and I saw it in New York in the early 2000s. My drama-masks tie is certainly appropriate for this occasion!

26 January 22

This information was new to me: "The tragedy and comedy masks are usually called 'Thalia and Melpomene' or 'Sock and Buskin.' Although the words come from Greek drama, it's a modern invention to use them as names for the theater masks — the ancient Greeks and Romans did not start the trend." At last I know the names for the "faces" on my drama-masks tie! 

Choosing this tie was easy after I found several events in theatrical history for today worth celebrating: (1) In 1988 Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Phantom of the Opera," the longest-running show in Broadway history, opened at the Majestic Theater in New York. (2) In 1790 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "Cosi Fan Tutte" premiered in Vienna. (3) In 1911 Richard Strauss's opera "Die Rosenkavalier" premiered in Dresden. (4) In 1936 Joseph Stalin viewed Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth" but he and his officials left early, and the play was denounced in the state press. (5) In 1939 Filming began on the film adaptation of "Gone With The Wind."

23 April 21

On the 457th birthday of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), I have decided to be. My own history in theater doesn't include any roles in Shakespeare's own plays, but in high school and college I did play characters in two modern knockoffs, "The Romantics" (which draws on three Shakespearean plays) and "Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" (which connects to Hamlet). My tie features the traditional masks for comedy and tragedy.

17 September 20

Happy Birthday, Laura Fritz! We chose to let me premiere this drama-masks tie to honor Laura's years of service to the (now-departed) theater department at EKU, and her continuing love of drama/comedy. Laura is the Administrative Coordinator for the EKU Honors Program -- which means that she keeps everything running smoothly despite the way the faculty and university administration go in so many different directions. The photo of the two of us is from a stop at Chicago's Midway International Airport, on a trip to the National Collegiate Honors Council conference in November 2018.