Barihunky season at innovative West Edge Opera

Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and barihunks Kenneth Kellogg and Efraín Solis

The innovative West Edge Opera in Berkeley, California is once again challenging audiences with a performance of Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox in an alternative space. The opera will take place in the foyer of the Ed Roberts Campus, which is an internationally recognized center dedicated to disability rights and universal access.

The cast includes some eye candy, as well, with hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and barihunks Kenneth Kellogg and Efraín Solis. The female side of the cast is rounded out by Sara Duchovnay, Molly Mahoney and Nicole Takesono. Performances are on July 27, August 2 and August 8, and tickets are available online.

The interior of the Ed Roberts Campus and V. Savoy McIlwain

Philip Glass' opera set to the poetry of counter-culture poet Allen Ginsberg. The text deals with a variety of topics from the 1950's through the 1980's ranging from the sexual revolution, eastern philosophy, drugs, the environment, the threat of nuclear destruction, Iran-Contra scandal and meditation. The six vocal parts were thought to represent six archetypal American characters- a waitress, a policeman, a businessman, a cheerleader, a priest, and a mechanic.

Unlike other Glass operas that deal with social issues, Hydrogen Jukebox is sung in English. In other operas, he has used languages unfamiliar to most opera-goers, including Sanskrit for Satyagraha, ancient Egyptian for Akhnaten, Latin for the CIVIL warS, or just numbers and syllables in Einstein on the Beach.

The rest of the West Edge Opera season includes Puccini's La bohème and Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair, cast with an abundance of barihunks. La bohème features casting appropriate to a venue dedicated disability rights, as blind barihunk Brandon Keith Biggs will sing Colline in a cast that also includes Jordan Eldredge as Schaunard and V. Savoy McIlwain as Marcello. Biggs sight impairment is due to having Leber's Congenital Amaurosis, a rare inherited eye disease that appears at birth or in the first few months of life, and affects around 1 in 80,000 of the population. Performances are on July 26, August 1st and 10th. Tickets are available online.

Jake Heggie, who is one of the world's premiere composers for the baritone voice, rounds out the season with his The End of the Affair, based  on Graham Greene’s novel. It will feature Keith Phares in the key role of Maurice Bendrix. Performances are on August 3, 7 and 9 and tickets are available online.