More Sexy Photos from LA Opera's "A Streetcar Named Desire"

LA Opera Production of Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Stacey Tappan as Stella. Photo by Robert Milliard

Ryan McKinny

Ryan McKinny

Ryan McKinny and Stacey Tappen

Renée Fleming and Ryan McKinny

As a follow-up to our previous post about the Los Angeles Opera's beautifully sung and sexy performance of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, here are some stunning photos from the production.

The opera featured bass-barithunk Ryan McKinny as the hotheaded Stanley Kowalski, soprano Renée Fleming as Blanche, Stacey Tappan as Stella, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch.

Sometimes words aren't needed, so enjoy the pictures.

Ryan McKinny's ripped Stanley Kowalski at L.A. Opera

Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski (Photo: Robert Millard for LA Opera)

The Los Angeles Opera has been marketing their upcoming performance of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire around mega-star Renée Fleming as Blanche DuBois. Fleming, who is a major exponent of American opera, and for whom the role was written when the opera premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998, certainly deserves to be the star attraction.

We, of course, were curious to see if the long tradition of casting a gym-toned barihunk as Stanley Kowalski was being upheld. The original Stanley was the Rod Gilfry in his vocal and physical prime. The role has subsequently been sung by a veritable Who's Who of barihunks, including Teddy Tahu Rhodes, David Adam Moore and Philip Cutlip. The L.A. Opera didn't disappoint, as they cast Ryan McKinny in the role, who like a bottle of 1982 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion just gets better and better with age.

Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski and Stacey Tappen as Stella (Photo: Robert Millard for LA Opera)

McKinny became a household name in the world of opera after performing the Dutchman in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Glimmerglass Festival under the direction of Francesca Zambello. Not only was McKinny's Dutchman vocally stunning, but it was the sexiest portrayal of that role in operatic history. The photos on our site went viral and almost doubled the traffic to our site.

In addition to Fleming and McKinny, the all-star cast also includes  Stacey Tappan as Stella and Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch. Performances are on Sunday, May 18th at 5 PM and May 21 and 24 at 7:30 PM. Tickets for all three performances are available online.

You can read an interview with Ryan McKinny on the LA Opera blog. 

Ryan McKinny returns to Los Angeles as Stanley Kowalski

Ryan McKinny

If there was any doubt left that Ryan McKinny has emerged as a major talent it was erased with the announcement that he'll sing Stanley Kowalski opposite megastar Renée Fleming in Andrè Previn's Streetcar Named Desire at the Los Angeles Opera. It also cements his budding reputation as a major barihunk, adding the notoriously sexy Stanley to his growing list of barihunk roles that includes Hercules, Escamillo and Jochanaan.

McKinny truly emerged last summer as the Dutchman in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Glimmerglass Festival under the direction of Francesca Zambello. McKinny's Dutchman was the sexiest portrayal of that role in operatic history and it worked masterfully. Regular readers know that we consider Zambello the "Queen Mother" of barihunks for her early and enthusiastic concept of casting baritones as not just villains and angry fathers, but as genuine sex symbols.

Ryan McKinny as the Dutchman

Streetcar Named Desire is being performed in a semi-staged concert production under the baton of Patrick Summers. The cast also includes the riveting tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Blanche’s guileless suitor Mitch and the wonderful soprano Stacey Tappan as Stella. Performances are on May 18, 21 and 24 and tickets are available online.

It's nice to see Ryan McKinny return to the LA Opera, as it's the company that provided him many opportunities early in his career. He debuted there in 2008 as Montano in Verdis's Otello, and subsequently appeared as the Servant in Ullmann's The Broken Jug, Dr. Grenvil in Verdi's La Traviata, Don Basilio in Rossini's Barber of Seville and Leone in Handel's Tamerlano.

He can currently be seen in two productions at the Houston Grand Opera. He's currenlty singing Donner in Wagner's Das Rheingold, also conducted by Patrick Summers, which runs from April 11-26 and then he switches to Escamillo in Bizet's  Carmen from April-May 10. McKinny is a former participant with the Houston Grand Opera Studio. (We should also mention that you don't want to miss Stefan Margita as Loge in Rheingold. His is the definitive performance!).

L.A. Opera adds Streetcar with Ryan McKinny & Renée Fleming

Ryan McKinny in Der fliegende Holländer

The Los Angeles Opera has just announced that it is adding André Previn’s Streetcar Named Desire  to its 2013-14 season. Taking on the role of Stanley Kowalski will be Ryan McKinny, who just created a sensation in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer at the Glimmerglass Festival. We didn't need much evidence, as our sexy photos of him almost doubled traffic to the site.

Joining the rising superstar barihunk will be Renée Fleming in the role of Blanche DuBois, instantly making this one of the hottest tickets in opera.  The performances are being presented in a semi-staged concert version on May 18, 21 and 24. 

Rounding out the cast are  soprano Stacey Tappan as Stella and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch Mitchell, a role he performed at the opera’s 1998 premiere. Tickets will be available online beginning on October 20th.

Young Barihunk featured on HBO with Renee Fleming

Set you DVRs for 6 PM on May 28th for "Renee Fleming: A YoungArts MasterClass" on HBO. The legendary soprano will work with four aspiring opera-singers on developing their voices and their careers. 

The students in this program are awardees of the Miami-based arts organization, YoungArts. Each year, YoungArts selects 150 high school students from an applicant pool of over 7,000.  The highly-popular first season of the Master Class Series featured tenor Placido Domingo, Julian Schnabel, Jacques d'Amboise, Frank Gehry, Olafur Eliasson, Edward Albee, Bill T. Jones, Liv Ullmann, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

The four singers who were selected to work with Fleming are Aaron Casey, Crystal Vanrell, Samantha Hankey and an emerging barihunk, Sean Michael Plumb. The 20-year-old Los Angeles native studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Marlena Malas and Mikael Eliasen. He also holds a fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he has studied for the last two summers. 

He has performed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Broad Stage, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and as a United States Presidential Scholar, the Kennedy Center. Additionally, Sean performed at the 2010 Grammy Week Salute to Placido Domingo with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. He has won many competitions including the Classical Singer Magazine 2009 High School Competition, the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards, and the top prize (Gold) at the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts’ YoungArts Week. At Curtis Sean has appeared in Apollo and Daphne (Apollo), Faust (Wagner), La Tragedie de Carmen (Lilas Pastilla), Il Signor Brushchino (Il Comissario), and The Cunning Little Vixen (Grasshopper). 

A 2010 graduate of Loyola High School of Los Angeles, Sean also plays piano and enjoys swimming and watching college basketball. Check out his website for more information.

You can follow the YoungArts Master Class program on Facebook.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

BREAKING NEWS: Brandon Cedel wins George London Competition

Brandon Cedel & Jonathan Beyer as seen in the Barihunks calendar

Brandon Cedel, who appears in our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar with his partner fellow barihunk Jonathan Beyer, has won the 2012 George London Foundation Competition. Jonathan Beyer won the competition last year with his rendition of  “News has a kind of mystery” from John Adams’s “Nixon in China.” Cedel won this year's competition singing a piece written 150 years earlier, "Vi ravviso o luoghi ameni" from La Sonnambula.

Beyer shot to fame after winning a series of vocal competitions, which we covered on our site. Cedel seems to be following the same path, as he also won the The Canstatter Foundation prize at the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition last month.

Past winners of the George London competition have included mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, soprano Renée Fleming and tenor Matthew Polenzani.

 Cedel can next be seen performing the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Granada Theater with Opera Santa Barbara.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Kwiecien & Pisaroni in rehearsal and on Met Feature; Teddy Tahu Rhodes on Barihunks

Mariusz Kwiecien backstage at the Met

Mariusz Kwiecien, Luca Pisaroni and Barbara Frittoli were featured on the Metropolitan Opera's recent HD broadcast of Don Giovanni in movie theaters across the globe. Here is the intermission feature with Renee Fleming talking to the singers. The video includes some great video from the final dress rehearsal.



Teddy Tahu Rhodes is on a concert tour of Australia with tenor David Hobson, which we've covered in a previous post. The Gay News Network recently caught up with the singer and asked him about Barihunks. Here's what he had to say.

Whereas Hobson has a more wholesome public image, Rhodes is often painted in the media as the bona fide rock star of the opera. He’s never been afraid of whipping his shirt off at a moment’s notice, which has earned him a certain kind of internet idolatry as well coverage in sundry dubious blogs like ‘Barihunks’, dedicated to the noble pursuit of documenting ‘the sexiest baritone hunks for opera’.


“I know! People bring it up all the time!” Rhodes sighs. “I swear I have never looked at it, but believe me, I know about that site. [Editor comment: Gotta love the Gay News Network calling us a "dubious blog"]

We're not sure we believe that Rhodes has never seen the site. We saw another interview with a singer from Down Under who was featured on the site who also said that he'd never looked at Barihunks. That, of course, begged the question of who was sending us all those emails with his name and photos attached.

Don't forget to order your 2012 Barihunks calendar. Click HERE to order. All proceeds go to support young artists.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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