Actually, the “Extremely Fit Men” are courtesy of director Francesca Zambello, who could find a way to shoehorn beefcake into Sense and Sensibility.

The lines in question are “Of course I’m queer/That’s why I left here/So if you infer/That I prefer/A lad to a lass/ And I’m working class/ I’d have to concur.” [The Guardian]

For background on how these scenes fit into Herheim’s overall concept, the always insightful Intermezzo is a good place to start.

The letter scene:

Last moments of Lensky’s death, followed by the Polonaise:

Final scene:

And the whole thing may be watched below. (Note: “Verbinden met videoserver” means “Video loading,” so be patient.)

Our Own JJ (not pictured) reveals his theater queen side in Capital New York.

Going into this concert, I was a bit apprehensive.  In choosing to review this, I knew it would be somewhat of a challenge.  After all, even though I am a gay man, I am too young to have experienced Gay Liberation, and have little familiarity with the formative gay cultural icons and iconic moments which are part of the Parterre vernacular, but have me rushing to Google.

That being said, I felt almost completely at home thanks to Mr. Blier’s amusing and informative remarks delivered from the stage before and sometimes during each set (did I hear him refer to Camille Saint-Saens as an outlandish queen?), which never overstayed their welcome.  Of course a song recital needs singers, and NYFOS did not disappoint in providing four versatile artists who were equally comfortable in lofty art song and bawdy cabaret, all delivered with crisp diction.  Whether or not these men are actually gay is of little consequence; they all portray the emotions and experiences unique to gay life with unforced sincerity as well as those which are universal.  Mr. Blier has clearly spent much time coaching these young singers, doubtlessly imparting on them his deeply personal connection to these songs.

Particularly excellent was bass Matt Boehler, whose mischievous and flirtatious presence quickly established a rapport with the audience during the concert’s opening number, Marc Blitzstein‘s “Purest kind of a Guy”.  In the same opening set, entitled “Man to Man”, we are treated to Steven Lutvak‘s “Exit Right”, about the disappointingly narcissistic experience of having sex with a Broadway actor, delivered with naiveté and natural comic timing by tenor Scott Murphee, who also proved his skill in French art song by delivering heartfelt accounts of Poulenc’s “Montparnasse” and Saint-Saens’s “Si vous n’avez rein a me dire”.  Other highlights from the art song sets included baritone Jesse Blumberg‘s agitated yet ethereal rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “At the Ball” and baritone Matthew Worth‘s thundering “Polo” from De Falla’s “Siete canciones populares espanoles”.

I found the non-art song sections of the program to be the most resonant, perhaps because they required no speculation or deep reading to find their connection to gay life.  Vocally, Matthew Worth was a standout.  His young baritone is rich, velvety, and of a good size, yet he was able to scale it down to deliver an appropriately bleak interpretation of Chris De Blasio‘s “Walt Whitman in 1989″, a simple song about the ravages of the AIDS epidemic. Boehler stole the show in the “In Drag” section, which includes a scene from William Bolcom’s Casino Paradise with Mr. Boehler playing the sassy street-smart drag queen Sonny to Jesse Blumberg’s Stanley, the conflicted ex-con fixated on her.

Equally entertaining was Cy Coleman’s “Tennis Duet” between Murphee and Worth, full of suggestive double-entendres and innuendos about “stiff competition” and “rousing rallies”.  More overt than suggestive was the final number, Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top”, which featured all four men and had the audience in stitches.  They were clearly enjoying themselves and each other, and gladly regaled the audience with a lone encore, Smokey Robinson’s “My Guy”.  (I’ll admit I had to Google the lyrics on my iPhone afterwards to figure out what it was.)

This program gave me wonderful insights into the aspects of gay life and culture which I have always felt that my generation has been particularly disconnected from: The coded secrecy of forbidden desire, the AIDS crisis of the 1980′s, and the celebration of Gay Liberation.  The program featured many lesser-known composers and a few lesser works, yet the expert delivery and sincerity of the four singers ensured there were no dull moments in this touching, heartfelt, and above-all entertaining musical journey through the gay life of Steven Blier.

I’m assisting iconic queer composer David Del Tredici and this amazing coloratura Courtenay Budd in a concert of two big song cycles this Saturday, May 29 at Bargemusic at 8:00 pm. One perv. only! These two are seriously astounding performers of these great recent queer works that deserve to be better known. Strict dress code: leather / fetish gear (no cologne). I hope to see you Saturday on the barge.

For “Boys’ Night at L’Étoile” (Friday, March 26 at 8pm), you and your sister flamers are encouraged to

Join fellow opera queens and cultural gays for a fabulous night of drinks, light fare, incredible entertainment, and French connections. The Juilliard-trained opera singer and drag performer Shequida serves as Mistress of Ceremonies, guaranteed to make you say “ooh la la” as she shows off her five-octave range with opera selections and pop hits.

Or that old standby, “gayer than eight guys fucking nine guys?” (Not pictured, alas)

Yes, all those things are gay, and some are even gay gay gay gay gay. But nothing is or ever was as gay as this:

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According to the always reliable Zachary Woolfe, among the beans spilled at the NYCO “Koch” Gala last night was the strong suggestion (from no less than Rufus Wainwright himself) that a production of Prima Donna is planned for an upcoming George Steel-planned season. [New York Observer]

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Oh, La Cieca just hates herself when she get a detail wrong. It seems that languid wunderkind Rufus Wainwright will not be performing his hit aria “Les feux d’artifice” at the gala opening of the New York City Opera saluting noted teabagger David H. Koch. The air will be performed by an actual operatic soprano, and Rufus will favor the dressy audience with a rousing rendition of “That’s Entertainment!” from his Judy Garland tribute.

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Newly beardless Rufus Wainwright once more graced the annual “Last Song of Summer” concert to benefit Robert Wilson‘s Watermill Center last weekend.  (Rufus’s boyfriend Jorn Weisbrodt is the Creative Director of the Center.)

Despite a “miraculous last minute change of venue to the Field House at The Ross School’s lower school campus on Butter Lane due to the threat of Tropical Storm Danny,” the girly Gesamtkunstwerker managed to regale the crowd with a morceau from that opera of his.

As hamptons.com describes the scene, Rufus opened with “Grey Gardens,” 

then going into “Faux,” also sung in French from his opera “Prima Donna.” “This is the final aria,” he explained. “There is a part in it where it seems like it’s over, but it’s not,” he said, “I know everybody is going to want to clap, but please hold off until you’re sure,” he joked.

According to Variety, Kate Winslet will star in a remake of Mildred Pierce, to be directed by Todd Haynes. Is this, like, the Hurricane Katrina of gay sensibility, or what?

 Let’s hope HBO goes for a fuller treatment of the story than the classic 1945 Joan Crawford vehicle, including Veda’s budding career as an opera diva!

The atmosphere around Gotham may become rather more bizarre sometime in the next couple of years when Rufus Wainwright brings his opera Prima Donna into New York. 

It’s only a rumor for now, of course, but that’s something, isn’t it? La Cieca bases her eager soupçonmongering on an interview the scruffy Scriabin gave to Montréal-based alt-weekly Hour, in which he mentions New York and Paris as places where there is “interest.” Whatever that means, it’s good enough for gossip work.

The interview also notes that during rehearsals for the recent Uraufführung, recovering Rufus shunned party-crazed Manchester for the less tempting envirions of Yorkshire, where apparently the gay sex and meth scene is pretty much nonexistent. This tidbit suggests to La Cieca that when Rufus arrives in NYC for the local Prima Donna premiere, he will sublet a nice place in Park Slope.

As you all surely know by now, Wainwright attended the gala opening night of Prima Donna garbed as Giuseppe Verdi, in the company of  “Giacomo Puccini,” who was actually his boyfriend — Rufus’s boyfriend, La Cieca means, not Verdi’s — German theater director Jörn Weisbrodt. (“Tell me, girl, do you ever Jörn?” ” “I Jörn my living.”)

Anyway, La Cieca thinks it would be a superbly flamboyant gesture of support for all of the parterre box contingent to show up for the New York premiere of PD not in our usual mufti but rather in the guise of favorite opera composers.

La Cieca herself naturally will go as Amy Beach, and she suggests the cher public use the comments section of this item to coordinate their opening night drag.