Jesse Darden as Timothy Laughlin and Jesse Blumberg as Hawkins Fuller (Photo by Liza Voll)
The Boston Lyric Opera is presenting the New England premiere of Gregory Spears' Fellow Travelers from November 13-17. The cast will included the barihunk trio of Jesse Blumberg as Hawkins Fuller, David McFerrin as Senator Joe McCarthy and Simon Dyer in multiple roles.
The remainder of the cast includes Jesse Darden as Timothy McLaughlin, Chelsea Basler as Mary Johnson, James Maddalena as Senator Charles Potter, Vincent Turregano as Tommy McIntyre, Brianna Robinson as Lucy and Michelle Trainor as Miss Lightfoot. Tickets are available online.
Simon Dyer and David McFerrin
Fellow Travelers, which is set in Washington D.C. against the backdrop of the
McCarthy-era "lavender scare," tells the story of Timothy “Skippy”
Laughlin, an aspiring young journalist, and Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller, a
handsome, profligate State Department official. A chance encounter with
Hawk leads to Tim's first job in DC, and his first love affair. As his
involvement deepens, Tim struggles to reconcile his political
convictions, his religious beliefs, and his love for Fuller – an
entanglement that will end in a stunning act of betrayal. The libretto
is based on the novel by American novelist, essayist and critic Thomas Mallon.
Joseph Lattanzi as Hawkins Fuller and Jonas Hacker as "Skippy" McLaughlin
The opera is also being performed on the other side of the continent at the Arizona Opera with Joseph Lattanzi reprising the role of Hawkins Fuller, which he created at the Cincinnati Opera in 2016. The cast includes Marcus DeLoach as Senator Joe McCarthy, Thomas Cannon as Senator Charles Potter, Jonas Hacker as Timothy McLaughlin, Katherine Beck as Mary Johnson, Cadie Jordan as Lucy and Kaitlyn Johnson as Miss Lightfoot. Tickets are available online. The opera will also be performed next year at the Madison Opera with Ben Edquist as Hawkins Fuller, Sid Outlaw as Tommy McIntyre and Andy Acosta as Hawkins Fuller.
Barihunk Joseph Lattanzi will be one of the featured stars of Cincinnati Opera's free Opera in the Park concert on June 9th. He'll be joined at Washington Park by his fellow cast members from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, which is being performed on June 13 and 15. They include sopranos Janai Brugger and Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb and tenor Martin Bakari. Also performing will be Piotr Buszewski, Liv Redpath, Thomas Dreeze and hunkentenor Aaron Blake.
No tickets are required for the event, but guests are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs, Concessions and food trucks will be on site.
In addition to The Marriage of Figaro, Lattanzi will join the company from July 22-27 for the world premiere of Scott Davenport Richards and David Cote's opera Blind Injustice, which explores the true stories of these six people who were tried, convicted, imprisoned, then ultimately freed by the Ohio Innocence Project. Joining him in the cast are fellow barihunks Miles Wilson-Toliver and Morgan Smith.
Casts and additional information on the Cincinnati Opera season can be found online.
Later this season, Lattanzi will reprise the role of Hawkins Fuller in Gregory Spears' Fellow Travelers at the Arizona Opera and then perform Dandini in Rossini's L Cenerentola at the Virginia Opera.
Nathan Gunn (left) and Aaron Blake/Joseph Lattanzi (right)
One of the board members of the PROTOTYPE Festival in New York put together this video of Nathan Gunn, who was singing Papageno at the Met. It shows what might of happened had he used the dating app Tinder to find his Papagena.
Nathan Gunn has a number of recitals on his 2018 calendar, including his cabaret show with his wife Julie Gunn. You can catch performances on January 18th in Thomasville, Georgia; at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, CA on January 22nd; and, at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills on March 15th. The concert includes works by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Lerner and Loewe, Billy Joel and Leonard Bernstein.
On January 12, 13 and 14, PROTOTYPE will present Gregory Spear's opera Fellow Travelers at the Lynch Theater at John Jay College, with barihunk Joseph Lattanzi and hunkentenor Aaron Blake in the lead roles. Tickets are available online. Fellow Travelers, which was written in collaboration with librettist Greg Pierce and director Kevin Newbury, was developed in a 2013 Opera Fusion workshop. Lattanzi sang both the workshops for the opera, as well as the world premiere at the Cincinnati Opera and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Joseph Lattanzi and Aaron Blake in Fellow Travelers
The Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced that barihunk Joseph Lattanzi will reprise the role of Hawkins Fuller in Gregory Spears' opera Fellow Travelers.
Fellow Travelers, which was written in collaboration with
librettist Greg Pierce and director Kevin Newbury, was developed in a
2013 Opera Fusion workshop. Lattanzi sang both the workshops for the opera, as well as the world premiere at the Cincinnati Opera last year. Newbury will also direct the Chicago performances.
Joseph Lattanzi sings "Our very own home" from Fellow Travelers:
The cast will include tenor Jonas Hacker as Timothy Laughlin, who falls in love with Hawkins Fuller during the height of the McCarthy era in 1950s
Washington D.C. Devon Guthrie will sing the role of Mary Johnson, Hawkins’s assistant and Timothy’s confidante.
This chamber work will be presented in four performances at the Athenaeum Theatre between March 17-25, 2018
You can catch Lattanzi as Sonora in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at Virginia Opera from November 10-December 3. Performances will be in Norfolk, Richmond and Fairfax.
Jospeh Lattanzi in his Barihunk t-shirt at the Seattle Opera (left) and at a Merola Opera performance (right)
Gregory Spears' new opera, Fellow Travelers, will receive a piano-vocal showcase at National Sawdust in Brooklyn on March 20th at 4 PM. This is the composer's first full-length opera, which follows Paul's Case and O Columbia. Paul's Case was a huge success at the 2014 Prototype Festival and subsequently at the Pittsburgh Opera. The opera was originally developed by American Opera Projects. O Columbia was presented last year by the Houston Grand Opera and featured barihunk Ben Edquist.
Fellow Travelers, which was written in collaboration with librettist Greg Pierce and director Kevin Newbury, was developed in a 2013 Opera Fusion workshop. It will feature former Barihunks calendar model Joseph Lattanzi, who will sing both the showcase and the world premiere.
Performances of Fellow Travelers will run at the Cincinnati Opera
from June 17-July 10 at the Jarson-Kaplan Theater. In addition to
Lattanzi, it will feature hunkentenor Aaron Blake, Mary Johnson,
Alexandra Schoeny and Talya Lieberman. Tickets and additional
information is available online.
Joseph Lattanzi performs "Our Very Own Home" from Fellow Travelers:
Fellow Travelers, set in Washington against the backdrop of the McCarthy-era "lavender scare," tells the story of Timothy “Skippy” Laughlin, an aspiring young journalist, and Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller, a handsome, profligate State Department official. A chance encounter with Hawk leads to Tim's first job in DC, and his first love affair. As his involvement deepens, Tim struggles to reconcile his political convictions, his religious beliefs, and his love for Fuller – an entanglement that will end in a stunning act of betrayal. The libretto is based on the novel by American novelist, essayist and critic Thomas Mallon.
On February 27th, Lattanzi will sing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Arizona Opera with fellow barihunk Ryan Kuster as Masetto and the talented Matthew Burns as his sidekick Leporello. Barihunk Morgan Smith will sing the other performances of Don Giovanni. Additional cast and ticket information is available online.
Barihunk Keith Phares (with beard) and Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock
Over the years we've made no secret that we occassionally have hunkentenor crushes. We understand that baritones don't always have a monopoly on hunkiness, so we like to sneak on a tenor once in awhile. Jonathan Blalock is a singer with outstanding musicianship and male model looks, so what's not to love? When we learned he was performing with barihunk Keith Phares, we knew that a post was in order.
The two singers are performing in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’ Paul’s Case! at UrbanArias at Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia. The opera is based on the famous short story by Willa Cather. Blalock plays the lead role of Paul, the son of an businessman in early 20th-century Pittsburgh, who is played by Keith Phares. Paul, who is tired of his dreary existence steals money from his job and runs off to New York City to taste freedom and enjoy a life of luxury.
There are three remaining performances this weekend and tickets are available at 888.841.2787 or online.
Upcoming performance for Keith Phares include the premiere of Eric Sawyer's The Garden of Martyrs, the title role in Elmer Gantry with Tulsa Opera and Marcello in La bohème with Manitoba Opera. Jonathan Blalock can next be seen debuting Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni at Nevada Opera on May 17 and 19.
