'Fit as a Fiddle
I audibly gasped when Nehellenia, representing Italy on RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars, walked out dressed as a violin.
The runway look, with F-hole corset and scroll-shaped coiffure, combined high and low — referencing, according to her Twitter, surrealists Man Ray and Salvador Dali, various Anime characters (including Sailor Moon’s Octave), and a spring 2020 Moschino collection.
The week’s theme, strangely, was “brown town.” (I guess a violin is brown? No matter.) “We all have a violin in our chest,” wrote Nehellenia, “and we have lost the bow to play it.” Something might have gotten lost in translation.
In any case, if you’re a loyal PP2S subscriber, you’ll know this is far from the first time I’ve mentioned drag or Drag Race here. (See my review of Thorgy Thor, Monet X Change, and Sapphira Cristál’s “Soundcake.”)
But the reason I’ve been watching perhaps more TV than usual is my partner is healing up from top surgery. So, I’ll be missing tonight’s final performances of Heartbeat Opera’s drag revue Slaylem, which is sure to be fabulous.
In-keeping with the theme of drag-classical crossover, I wanted to share the names of some “opera queens” who have gotten less mainstream attention than the above:
First, there’s Jasmine Rice LaBeija, from the lauded house of LaBeija, a Juilliard-trained tenor. There’s the Germany-based drag baritone Nina Naï, who founded the online Drag & Opera Festival. Not to mention Dusty Pörn, a San Francisco-based drag countertenor.
There’s Dr. Lady J, a working drag queen with a doctorate in musicology. Bearded queen Pretty Lamé is the alter ego of tenor Joshua Sanders. And Dinah Lux is a lecturer in music by day, and drag queen by night. Last but not least, Boston-based bass Donatella Fermata is a rising star in the drag-opera scene.
(For more thoughts about drag and opera, see my posts here and here.)
Coming down the pike:
The divisive Grounded continues its Met Opera run through Saturday, Oct. 19 (You can read my Parterre review here)
Death of Classical presents “Vis Aeternitatis,” the last installment of “The Light After” series, on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
“The Other Side of Silence,” Opera Saratoga’s new production exploring assistive technology, premieres upstate on Wednesday, Oct. 16
Cellist Seth Parker Woods plays a new concerto by Nathalie Joachim as part of a Afromodernist program on Thursday, Oct. 17 and Friday, Oct. 18
BirdOnAPiano takes us from “Baroque to Rock” at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 22
Opera Lafayette presents “Re:Claim” at El Museo Del Barrio on Thursday, Oct. 24
Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra reimagines a not-so-silent “Phantom of the Opera” on Friday, Oct. 25
Bassist Kebra-Seyoun Charles, among others, represent American Composers Orchestra’s “The New Virtuoso” on Wednesday Oct. 30
