Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Christopher Nolan

“Odyssey” Mania is Real!

“Odyssey” mania is real! Here are some souvenirs from a trip to the Princeton Barnes & Noble last week. You’ll note a table devoted to Emily Wilson’s translations of “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.” Someone snuck in a copy of the Robert Fagles’ version. He was, after all, born in Philly and served on the Princeton faculty.

Also, an endcap of other “Odyssey” translations from the B&N bargain bin and related mythological material.

And finally, an impressive display of “Odyssey” books and bric-a-brac.

The other photo was taken yesterday at Princeton Public Library. I was amused to find this plug for Matt Damon survival movies in their collection. The internet is alive with debate about which are better, Matt Damon movies in which he is saved, or those in which he saves himself. The man has established quite the interesting subgenre. When we think John Wayne, we think westerns. When we think Errol Flynn, we think swashbucklers. When we think Matt Damon, we think SAVE HIM!

Last night, I revisited Kirk Douglas’ “Ulysses.” It really is ridiculously entertaining for a 1950s sword-and-sandal adaptation – from Italy, no less, with all the actors dubbed! There are few actors anymore who can fill the screen like Douglas and Anthony Quinn (as Antinous), the latter giving a very different interpretation, and on quite a different level, from Robert Pattinson (who, granted, is wholly believable in the new version as a scheming coward).

Off today to Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, to take in a performance of Richard Strauss’ opera “The Egyptian Helen” – about the troubled reconciliation of Helen of Troy and her husband, Menelaus, following the Trojan War. The opera runs through August 2, with a livestream on Friday, July 31, at 4 p.m. Often Bard archives these things online not long after the run, so watch for it, and check out some of their past performances. For more information, visit https://fishercenter.bard.edu/series/the-egyptian-helen/

The Classics are everywhere these days, and I’m riding the wave all the way to Ithaca!

Past Bard operas and related material archived here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfzbP01j_SLj4B4A46l-jLPjzWdSxt_wS

July 26, 2026
Summer of Classical Myth from Bard Homer and Bard College

Say what you want about Christopher Nolan, he sure can open a movie. I was at Barnes & Noble yesterday, and there was a table devoted to “The Odyssey,” an “Odyssey” endcap, and a massive display of “Odyssey”-related gift items. Furthermore, people are actually reading the thing. What other director has that kind of sway?

Nolan repeats the feat of a few summers ago, when “Barbenheimer” was all the rage – moviegoers participating in incongruous, ironic, de facto double features of “Barbie” and Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” Now, he’s triggered the Summer of Homer.

Wholly by coincidence – because, really, Classical mythology never really goes away – Richard Strauss’ rarely-heard opera “Die ägyptische Helena ” (“The Egyptian Helen”), about the troubled relationship of Helen of Troy and her husband Menelaus (whom she abandoned for Paris, precipitating the Trojan War), will be revived at Bard College this week.

The work was the fifth of six collaborations between Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal (that also yield “Elektra,” “Der Rosenkavalier,” “Ariadne auf Naxos,” “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” and “Arabella”), and Hofmannsthal’s personal favorite.

Their treatment, inspired not only by Homer, but also Euripides and Herodotus, humanizes and contemporizes these figures of Classical mythology, who struggle with timeless issues of memory, fidelity, and restoration of trust. But there are also oracles, elves, elixirs, and an Omniscient Seashell. The action and themes are colored or motivated by humor, jealousy, rage, philosophical musings, equanimity, warmth, and reconciliation.

The opera will be performed at the campus’ state-of-the-art, Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, July 24-August 2, as part of Bard SummerScape, the college’s annual festival of the arts, which will also encompass the Bard Music Festival, this year focusing on “Mozart and His World,” August 7-16.

A livestream of “The Egyptian Helen” will be offered on July 31 at 4 p.m. EDT.

Bard College is located in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. For me, it’s about a 2 ½ hour drive – certainly a commitment, though I’d hardly call it an odyssey.

For tickets and information visit

https://fishercenter.bard.edu/what-we-do/summerscape/

July 21, 2026
Classical Weekend with Classic Ross Amico

With Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” sailing into theaters today, interest in Classical mythology is renewed. I mean, I think it’s always been a fascination for school children, but thanks to that early inculcation, it remains with us for the rest of our lives – sometimes pushed to the backs of our brains, but who doesn’t remember with affection the Greek heroes, their imposing quests and impossible challenges, the fickle gods, the peculiar trysts, the triumphs and turns of fortune, and perhaps most of all, the grotesque monsters?

“The Odyssey” is an excuse for me to revisit these youthful enthusiasms, as I make Classical mythology the focus of all three of my radio shows this weekend (with air times and streaming information posted below).

First, today, on “Picture Perfect,” it’s a mythological mash-up of music from fantasy films, including selections from “Helen of Troy” (Max Steiner), “Clash of the Titans” (Laurence Rosenthal), “Hercules” (Pino Donaggio), and “Jason and the Argonauts” (Bernard Herrmann).

Then, tomorrow morning on “Sweetness and Light,” it’s an ambrosial assortment of pieces inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice, Daphnis and Chloe, Hercules, and a riot of nymphs, satyrs, and fauns, vividly evoked by Jacques Offenbach, Howard Hanson, Cécile Chaminade, George Frideric Handel, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Maurice Ravel.

Finally, indomitable Odysseus makes his belated return from the Trojan War to Ithaca on “The Lost Chord,” in works by Ernst Boehe (“Departure and Shipwreck” from the symphonic cycle “From Odysseus’ Voyages”) and Benjamin Britten (the radio play “The Rescue of Penelope,” narrated with gusto by Dame Janet Baker), on “Home Sweet Homer.”

So much for moderation. Join me for a triple helping of Classical classics. I’ll be stringing my bow and launching arrows down a gallery of axe-heads, in celebration of “The Odyssey,” on “Picture Perfect,” “Sweetness and Light,” and “The Lost Chord” – all three originating from KWAX Classical Oregon!

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Clip and save the start times of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

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IMAGE: “Odysseus and Polyphemus” (1896) by Arnold Böcklin

July 17, 2026

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