How A Troubled Kid Went From Juvenile Detention To Being An Opera Star

Uncategorized Posted: January 1, 2019 2:50 am

Ryan Speedo Green, 32, went from a troubled home to finding a life’s passion and success as an opera singer good enough to command the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

“Ride” of a lifetime
In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column, I review two premieres, John Guare’s Nantucket Sleigh Ride and Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. Here’s an excerpt. ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-22
Replay: an interview with Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier is interviewed by Michael Parkinson about his film career on Cinema. This program was originally telecast by Granada Television on November 19, 1970: (This is the latest ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-22
Almanac: George Saintsbury on connoisseurship
“Here, as else- and every-where in criticism, not only the hardest thing but also the hardest thing to get recognized when attained, is the appreciation of difference without insisting ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-22
City Lights: The Little Bookshop That Could
As San Francisco prepares to celebrate Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s 100th birthday on Sunday, City Lights Books will be the focus of much attention. The little paperback bookshop he launched in 1953 ... [read more]
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2019-03-22
Gaillard With Parker, Gillespie, Marmarosa, et al
A Rifftides reader recently confessed to never having heard Slim Gaillard’s “Poppity Pop,” a 1945 recording with Charlie Parker as a sideman. The record might be dismissed as a period ... [read more]
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2019-03-21
King Lear with Glenda Jackson and everything else that’s happening now
Great Shakespeare plays take the color of their surroundings – if the production is doing its job, and Broadway’s new King Lear is accomplishing that. But then how could ... [read more]
AJBlog: Condemned to MusicPublished 2019-03-21
So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-21
Almanac: George Saintsbury on history and the law of unintended consequences
“As has been suggested above, the Book of History is the Bible of Irony: and, it may be added, the newspaper is a sort of key to that book though ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-21
My Particular Beef
It glistened while it spattered. A dangerous smell had already filled the second-floor apartment. What in the world was I to do? The Weinsteins had moved from an elm-lined, tulip-strewn ... [read more]
AJBlog: Out TherePublished 2019-03-20
2019 NY Acker Awards To Be Held March 26
The Acker Awards, now in their sixth year, are a tribute given to members of the avant-garde arts community who have made outstanding contributions in their discipline in defiance of ... [read more]
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2019-03-20
Snapshot: Boris Karloff in Heart of Darkness
Playhouse 90’s TV version of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” originally telecast live by CBS on November 6, 1958. The adaptation is by Stewart Stern and the telecast was ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-20
Almanac: Joseph Conrad on the meaning of life
“Droll thing life is—that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself—that comes too late—a crop ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-20
ArtPlace America Engagement Resources
As I mentioned in an earlier post I recently had the opportunity to engage with Lyz Crane of ArtPlace America in a discussion about creative placemaking and community engagement. ... [read more]
AJBlog: Engaging MattersPublished 2019-03-19
Tainted “Tintoretto”: Venice Mayor Mars Kaywin Feldman’s Blockbuster Debut at National Gallery
Having heard Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of Venice, expound on Tintoretto‘s “values” during yesterday’s livestream of the National Gallery of Art’s press preview for the Venetian artist’s first full-scale retrospective in ... [read more]
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2019-03-19
Lookback: the fifteen greatest American musicals
From 2009: I see a good many pre-1970 musicals as part of my duties as drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, and it occurred to me the other day ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-19
Almanac: George Saintsbury on majority rule
“Majorities are generally wrong, if only in their reasons for being right.” George Saintsbury, The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-19
Thank Heaven for Museum Renovations!
I’ve been away for a few weeks–but I don’t want you to miss notice of an excellent exhibition at the Kimbell Art Museum: The Lure of Dresden: Bellotto at the ... [read more]
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2019-03-18
Culture Closures: Trump’s FY2020 Budget Proposal Would Ax NEA, NEH, IMLS
Is it mere coincidence that First Lady Melania Trump tweeted a shoutout to the National Endowment for the Arts (@NEAarts) on the same day that her husband released a FY2020 ... [read more]
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2019-03-18
Ferlinghetti: ‘Pity the Nation Whose Leaders Are Liars’
Lawrence Ferlinghetti must be wondering what all the fuss is about. After all, he’s only going to turn 100 on Sunday. What’s the big deal? I’m betting he would prefer ... [read more]
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2019-03-18
Patchel’s ‘Plinkout’
Keith Patchel, a New York-based composer and producer, has created a free online/mobile application called Plinkout, which he is touting as “the easiest way to teach anyone,” especially kids, how ... [read more]
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2019-03-18

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