Seph Stanek appearing in Ruddigore this weekend

Seph Stanek in Ruddigore (right)

If you want to start off November on the right foot, head over to New York University where barihunk Seph Stanek is appearing in Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore. There will be three performances this weekend at the Skirball Center for the Peforming Arts featuring the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (matinee and evening on Saturday, and matinee on Sunday).

Stanek made his debut with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players in 2012 as the Headsman in The Yeomen of the Guard, and subsequently appeared in The Mikado with the company.

Trained as an operatic baritone, Stanek appeared in Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, but has since focused his career in musicals and television. He appeared off-Broadway in Naked Boys Singing!, Little House on the Ferry and 8Minute Musicals; as well as HBO's Boardwalk Empire and Mildred Pierce.

Tickets for Ruddigore are available online.

If you want to enjoy 19 other singers who are sexy as Seph Stanek, order you 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar today by clicking on the LULU button below.

Baritone Brigade in Baltimore Gondoliers

 

Jeffrey Williams (left);  Jeffrey Williams, Andrew Pardini and Alexis Tantau (right)

Barihunk Jeffrey Williams, who we introduced to readers in December 2012, will be singing the role of Don Alhambra in the Young Victorian Theatre Company's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers. He's joined in the cast by a number of luscious low voices, including Spencer Adamson as Antonio [see photo below], Andrew Adelsberger as Duke of Plaza Toro, Timothy Kjer as Giorgio and Andrew Pardini as Giuseppe Palmieri.

Performances are on Saturday, July 12, Sunday, July 13, Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20 at the  Sinex Theater in Baltimore. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Spencer Adamson and the cast of Gondoliers

The Gondoliers, or, The King of Barataria, was the twelfth opera written together by Gilbert and Sullivan. Opening on December 7, 1889 at the Savoy Theatre, The Gondoliers ran for 554 performances, and was the last of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas that would achieve wide popularity.

The story of the opera concerns the young bride of the heir to the throne of Barataria who arrives in Venice to join her husband. It turns out, however, that he cannot be identified, since he was entrusted to the care of a drunken gondolier who mixed up the prince with his own son. To complicate matters, the King of Barataria has just been killed. The two young gondoliers must now jointly rule the kingdom until the nurse of the prince can be brought in to determine which of them is the rightful king. Moreover, when the young queen arrives to claim her husband, she finds that the two gondoliers have both recently married local girls. A last complicating factor is that she, herself, is in love with another man.

Reader Submission: Alexander Elliott

Alexander Elliott preparing for Pirates of Penzance

The Portland Opera Resident Young Artist Program was one of the first recipients of a Barihunks Grant from our annual calendar proceeds. So we were particularly delighted when our latest reader submission was one of the young artists performing Samuel in Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance with the company.

Alexander Elliott is a second year young artist who has performed in recital with the company, as well sung the Shoe Salesman in Dominick Argento's Postcard from Morocco. He was also their cover for Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.  Our reader also shared this great photo of Alexander Elliott get used to his sword for the show, which opens on May 9 and runs through May 17. Tickets are available online. The Pirate King is being sung by one of the most famous barihunks in the world, Daniel Okulitch.

Elliott was previously an apprentice artist with the Central City Opera, where he sang the role of Frank in Ned Rorem’s Our Town. This summer, he joins the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. They are performing Mozart's Don Giovanni and a reduced orchestral version of André Previn's Streetcar Named Desire.

Other career highlights have includes the Captain in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Périchaud in La Rondine with Des Moines Metro Opera as well as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with the Tulsa Opera opposite fellow barihunk Seth Carico.

You can hear audio of him at his website.

Seph Stanek puts on some clothes for Yeoman

Seph Stanek in Naked Boys Singing

Seph Stanek, who has been appearing in Naked Boys Singing at the Kirk Theater, is going to put on some clothes and join the cast of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. He'll be performing the Headsman in The Yeomen of the Guard, which runs from January 18-20. Tickets are available online.

The buff singer, actually trained to sing opera but has done virtually everything in his young career, including appearing on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, performing with the all-male classical-crossover quartet Figaro, and performing with Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Trisha Yearwood, Carol Channing, Debbie Reynolds, Brooke Shields, and Sandi Patty.

His opera credits include Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with Spartanburg Opera, the Baron in Verdi's La traviata with Lyrique-en-mer, the Notary in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Furman Opera and a soldier in the Met's Aida. He also was a lead singer during the American and International tour of "Twelve Irish Tenors."

Enjoy Seph Stanek singing Rubber Ducky in his rub a dub dub tub: