The purview of so much gay theater still focuses squarely on trauma—consider the recent Tony sweep of The Inheritance—that the story of a queeny pre-teen who loves Diana Ross and lives out loud unapologetically seemed like a welcome tonic.
I can safely say that this is the gay drama I’ve been waiting for: a genuinely devastating drama that doesn’t treat its characters like lambs waiting for the slaughter or overdose on weepiness, and a queer narrative that unapologetically centers the queer perspective.
It’s not difficult to make an audience weep uncontrollably. But because it’s so easy, I think artists have a responsibility to not overuse that power.
Stonewall threads some difficult needles with great success overall in this last installment of New York City Opera’s Pride Month Programming.
“Love is love,” tweets tenor Michael Fabiano.
Tomorrow (Sunday) a staged reading of The Lisbon Traviata will be performed at New York’s LGBT Community Center.
I found Fellow Travelers intellectually and politically riveting, musically thrilling, and profoundly moving. It was a triumph.
“The background chorus characters in the Broadway show I saw tonight unobtrusively included a gay couple, and jaded though I sometimes am I think that’s really neat.”
Composer Gregory Spears is a unique example of this maxim that one must be “deeply rooted in tradition in order to innovate with integrity.”
What the hell is Three Way doing on a list of 7 American Operas That Put LGBTQ Issues Center Stage?
Cincinnati Opera presented the world premiere Fellow Travelers Friday and I’m here to tell you that not only does the opera have legs, it has balls.
“Over the years, I have often been asked why I feel my sexuality is anyone’s business and why I am so open about it in print.”
“Baritone Jarrett Ott (bottom) in Philadelphia, with current boyfriend Adam Franklin (top)…”
First-time novelist Matthew Gallaway’s ardent love for Tristan and Isolde gushes through every page of The Metropolis Case. According to Gallaway, Tristan is the highest expression of human art, and the book functions effectively as the ultimate initiator in the cult of Wagner. The novel opens with a lengthy discussion of the opera in the…
Two versions, and it’s hard to say which one is more revolting, of one of the least savory moments in the life of Leonard Bernstein.
A brace of profiles in the March issue of Opera News engage the reader in a fascinating game of “the same, but different.” Simon Keenlyside and Paulo Szot are both baritones; both handsome, sexy men; and they’re both adept in classical and more modern musical theater forms. Both gentlemen are starring in new productions at…
La Cieca should know by now that any think piece that kicks off with the locution “I have from time to time wrestled with this conundrum” is just going to piss her off and she should just close the tab. But she didn’t, and this is what she found a little lower down (in more…
Congratulations and best wishes to newly wed couple Ira Siff and Hans Pieter Heijnis, who were married Saturday in a politically-charged ceremony in Amsterdam. [via Reuters]
Gay activists say they were attacked last weekend by members of the orchestra and the security staff of the Greek National Opera during a demonstration over a production of Rusalka. Members of the orchestra had voted not to play the opera in protest against a scene in which two male characters were to kiss. The…
According to the blog AfterElton.com, Tony Award-winning barihunk Paulo Szot “is an out gay man.” Writer Brian Juergens says the blog “contacted his publicist and were told that yes, he is gay, and we’re welcome to say as much.”
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
