Baixa Terapia/Low Therapy: The Not- so- funny Comedy at the Clara Nunes theater, Gavea Shopping
One of the most intriguing “comedies” (?) this theatergoer has ever experienced is currently playing in Rio de Janeiro until 30 JULY after a long tour which has taken it from Sao Paulo to Portugal to the United States and back to Brazil. “Baixa Terapia” (Low Therapy) by Argentine playwright Matias Del Federico,42, and directed […]
O Caso (The Case): a Hilarious Night at the Theater (Teatro das Artes) in Gavea’s Shopping Center
With the Covid-19 pandemic finally going away(?) , Rio de Janeiro ´s closest equivalent to Broadway or London´s East End theatre district, the Gavea shopping center with its four theaters is once again glowing and thriving.As comedy is supposedly the best medicine to combat the often-harsh realities of daily life, this theater lover highly enjoyed […]
The Charisma of Frida Kahlo
Dear Frida Kahlo (wherever you are): Today is Thursday,23 March 23, 2023, or four days after I was in Sao Paulo attending and hypnotized by a fascinating exhibition in your honor. You are/were a great Mexican artist; your lovers included the Russian revolutionary Trotsky and your husband-mentor, the great Mexican painter-muralist Diego Rivera, among others. […]
A Musical Evening in Búzios with King Roberto Carlos
Put together Brazil’ s answer to St.Tropez,or Buzios( “conchas”) with this nation’s top crooner, Roberto Carlos,81, and you have sheer magic! That’ s what this observer experienced Friday evening 173 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro aboard the 17- deck Brazilian flagship MSC Fantasia where Brazil’ s answer to Júlio Iglesa and Frank Sinatra enchanted over […]
“Circumcision in New York”: A hilarious comedy by Joao Bethencourt ahead of its time
Rio de Janeiro—There are some wonderful Cariocas, or local characters, who may have passed away but continue to live on immortally! Brazil´s 20th century Moliere, playwright, actor, director and drama teacher Joao Bethcourt (Budapest,1924-2006, Rio de Janeiro) is one of these “figuras,” a they call charismatic personalities in Portuguese. In my first years in Rio […]
Bottoms up to Vienna!
Dear Vivian in Canada, Rabbi Ken in California and others who told me “Don´t go to Vienna because you will only meet antisemitism in that city.”I have just returned from the most wonderful eight days of my life, visiting the capital of the great music I have loved since I was a child.Finally, I was […]
Tips for Old-fogie Globetrotters
Tips for old-fogie travelers from another old-fogie who has just returned from his first trip abroad after a thirteen years abstinence!(1)Window seats on airplanes are wonderful but perhaps not the best for old- fogies whose legs and prostrates are not what they were 30- 40-,50 years ago .The WC is easily available for those on […]
“Everybody talks about the Weather but no one does anything about it“ American author Mark Twain
It is another cold, rainy day in what used to be tropical Rio de Janeiro.As I head for the ICS (Institute for Climate and Society) in Humaita (Rua General Dionisio 14), I am wearing a vest, long-sleeved shirt and a hoodie, or jacket with a hood and carrying an umbrella.I might as well be in […]
The White Tiger: A Novel which portrays a changing INDIA
It has been thirty five years(!) since I performed oboe recitals in Mumbai and Poona and a mob tried to lynch our taxi in Delhi, India yet this wondrous, magical and dystopian culture continually returns to haunt me.And over twenty five years ago I was playing my oboe for belly dance classes taught by my […]
Joao Pessoa Diary (Paraiba state, northeastern Brazil)
Your correspondent is one of the most reluctant persons to leave home.For prior to arriving in Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s (!),I had resided in various parts of the world and know only too well the tears and anguish involved in departing from one place and going to reside in another.On the other hand, […]