Dead Man Walking Closes in Tulsa, Opens in Dresden

Michael Mayes (L) & John Packard (R) as Joseph de Rocher

Michael Mayes created quite a stir when we posted pictures of him on Barihunks as Joseph de Rocher in the Tulsa Opera production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. We followed it up with a post about his dramatic weight loss and workout routine that got him his "prison gym" body, which also generated intense interest. Mayes received rave reviews for his intense performance and became the talk of the opera world overnight even though he was performing in a city that is hardly considered an opera capital of the world. Such is the power of the internet.

Philip Cutlip (top) and Daniel Okulitch (bottom)

Heggie's opera has quickly become a mainstay of the operatic standard repertory, something that rarely happens this soon after a work's debut. The opera premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 2000 with an all-star cast led by John Packard as Joseph de Rocher, Frederick von Stade an his mother, Susan Graham as Sister Helen Prejean and Jay Hunter Morris as Father Grenville.

Mel Ulrich (L) & Teddy Tahu Rhodes (R)

Some of the hottest barihunks in the world have taken on the role of Joseph de Rocher including Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Mel Ulrich, Daniel Okulitch, Jordan Shanahan, Marcus DeLoach and Philip Cutlip.

Here is a promo piece from the Dresden Opera in German:

Dead Man Walking - Semperoper Dresden from Theater-TV on Vimeo.

Just over 5,000 miles from Tulsa, as the curtain comes down on the final performance of Dead Man Walking, another production is running at the Semperoper in Dresden with John Packard returning as the convicted killer. Remaining performance are on March 4, 9, 18 and 23 with Antigone Papoulkas as Sister Helen Prejean. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online. 

In related casting news about barihunks who played Joseph de Rocher, read our recent post about Daniel Okulitch, who is reprising Willy Wonka in Atlanta, a role that he created. Philip Cutlip opens two weeks from today as Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at New York City Opera in a cast that includes fellow barihunk Rod Gilfry. Michael Mayes heads to the Ft. Worth Opera Festival to perform in Mark Adamo's Lysistrata, Jordan Shanahan will be performing in La boheme with the Green Mountain Cultural Festival, Marcus DeLoach will be performing in Of Mice and Men with the Utah Opera and Teddy Tahu Rhodes will be taking his famous Don Giovanni to Bordeaux opposite the Leporello of fellow barihunk Kostas Smoriginas

And we leave you with Jordan Shanahan:

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Free Ticket Give Away

Barihunks is giving away three sets of tickets to the first three people who can identify the two singers in this picture. In order of responses, you can choose from one of these three performances at the Ft. Worth Opera.

Send your response to barihunks@gmail.com

Friday May 28, 2010 – The Elixir of Love

Saturday May 29, 2010 – Premiere of Before Night Falls

Friday June 4, 2010 – Don Giovanni

Wes Mason on "Before Night Falls"

One of our favorite opera companies in the United States is the Ft. Worth Opera. They always combine great repertoire with wonderful young singers. Once again, they've put together a great season with Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, and the world premiere of Before Night Falls.

Every year the opera world is abuzz about a new opera and this year it appears to be Jorge Martin's "Before Night Falls" about the gay Cuban counter-revolutionary Reinaldo Arena. They have engaged the hunky Wes Mason to take on the title role in his first leading role on a major stage. From what we've heard of Mason, he will undoubtedly be a smash hit. Here is some video of the emerging barihunk singing and talking about the role.

By the way, the other operas at Ft. Worth have their fair share of barihunks, as well. Don Giovanni has Michael Todd Simpson in the title role, fresh off his critically acclaimed performance in the Tales of Hoffman at The Met. His sidekick will be Tom Corbeil who created quite a sensation on this site when he first appeared last year. Even the Elixir of Love has the adorable Christopher Bolduc cast as Belcore.

Los Angeles Times: "Opera Barihunks Hit A Muscular Tone"

[Nathan Gunn in Billy Budd]

[Matthew Worth]

[Tom Forde]




Kudos to the Los Angeles Times for Irene Lacher's wonderful article on Nathan Gunn and the rising popularity of barihunks. Two of our favorite young singers, Matthew Worth and Tom Forde, were featured, as well.

Forde will be performing the title role in Mozart's the Marriage of Figaro at the Tacoma Opera on March 5 & 7.

Matthew Worth has been receiving acclaim for both his voice and his good looks. Here are two recent reviews.

Ted Mahne wrote in the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Matthew Worth offered a particular highlight as Mercutio. He gave an agile and pleasing rendering of the tricky 'Queen Mab' aria. A striking performer, watch for his star to rise."

Jerry Floyd wrote in Opera about Worth's performance in "The Rape of Lucretia" at Castleton: "A trio of barihunks proved that well-trained, carefully directed younger singers can deliver polished, high-quality portrayals; especially Worth, whose wrathful Etruscan character seemed intuitively to sense the consequences of his assault on Lucretia."

Oddly, Worth's management site doesn't have his schedule.

Since the L.A. Times raised the issue of barihunks, here are a few more of our favorites:

[The super sexy Randal Turner, who we're hoping to see in the U.S. soon]

[Exotic Wes Mason, who will be starring in "Before Night Falls" in Ft. Worth]

[Kelly Markgraf will be in Omaha singing Count Almaviva]

[Adrian Kramer sporting his guns]


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Matthew Treviño: Devilishly Hot

One of our favorite things about running this site is showing the world that there is opera outside of New York. There is a wealth of talent working in "second tier" opera companies and often the performances are much more gratifying. Singers like Matthew Treviño bring an intensity and presence to the stage that may get lost in Renee Fleming's long shadow on the stage of The Met.

This devilishly good looking bass has charmed audiences in cities like Ft. Worth, Sacramento, Kansas City, Dallas, Detroit and Santa Barbara. As you can see from the photo on the bottom, Matthew Treviño can even make Colline in La Boheme look sexy. Of course, we prefer him as a soldier in Salome exposing some skin. We won't even make a joke about him playing Dick Deadeye in Kansas City!

Like many barihunks, he got his major break with the Fort Worth Opera, which has become ground zero for barihunkiness. Treviño went on to hone his skills at the prestigious Merola Opera Program where he first caught our eye.

The Texas native graduated from Baylor University and was a finalist in the Loren L. Zachary Foundation Competition, Dallas Opera Guild Competition, Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition, Shreveport Opera’s Singer of the Year Competition, and was the recipient of the Thomas Stewart Award for Vocal Excellence at Baylor University.

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"Teddy Bare" in a Tee

[Pictures from the Ft. Worth Opera - the sexiest opera company in America!]

We go forever without a post of Teddy Tahu Rhodes, and now we have two in as many days. Here is Teddy Bare at a Ft. Worth Opera event with his new bride Isabel Leonard. Teddy is showing some nice biceps and a bit of his tattoo if you look r-e-a-l c-l-o-s-e.

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Daniel Okulitch Naked Again?

[Photo by Ellen Appel; Click to enlarge]
Super sexy Daniel Okulitch is back and to our great delight, showing lots of skin. We're not sure yet if he's as stripped down as he was in The Fly, but he's in a much better opera this time, Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking." Of course, he may be in the buff again because the website has the following disclaimer: "Contains nudity and adult situations."

Dead Man Walking, which has become one of the most popular contemporary opera, is being performed by that haven of male pulchritude, the Ft. Worth Opera. Unfortunately, there are only two performances, May 2 and 10. For more information visit www.fwopera.org.

Okulitch joins a long list of barihunks who have sung the lead role of Joseph De Rocher, including John Packard, Mel Ulrich, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Marcus DeLoach.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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Christopher Bolduc's Career About to Take Off

Christopher Bolduc is an emerging barihunk whose career we're watching. He already has appeared on this site's "It's hot in Santa Fe" feature (http://barihunks.blogspot.com/2008/05/its-hot-in-sante-fe.html). He's a student of Bill Schuman at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts and it looks like his career is about to take off complete with agency representation.

We noticed that he's booked this spring with the Palm Beach Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. He will also be appearing at that hotbed of barihunks, the Fort Worth Opera, as Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore. You can watch a preview of his Belcore above. His agency profile states that he is currently preparing Marcello in La Boheme, Valentin in Faust and Silvio in I Pagliacci.

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Craig Verm Showers on Stage

Here are some hot pictures of Craig Verm performing Tom Joad in Grapes of Wrath at the Pittsburgh Opera. It's nice to see the occasional shower scene in opera, especially when there are barihunks involved. I'm still waiting for an updated version of Billy Budd to the 1970s where all of the sailors are in short-shorts and no shirts. (Any German directors listening? Feel free to steal the idea).

Barihunks readers might remember Craig Verm as the guy who created a sensation playing Joseph Pitt in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America at Fort Worth Opera. You can refresh your memory here: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=craig+verm. He shared the stage with the equally hot David Adam Moore, who is featured in the previous post.

Verm, who performs regularly in Pittsburgh, is next scheduled to sing the beautiful Faure Requiem with the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale on March 7 & 8, 2009. You can get more information here: http://www.pghconcertchorale.org/.

Also, don't forget to vote in our "Hottest Barihunk" poll to the right. I promise that Craig Verm will be in the next poll. Also, in response to a bunch of emails, Daniel Okulitch will also be in the next poll.

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Daniel Okulitch (almost) shirtless as Figaro

Daniel Okulitch is the next Nathan Gunn/Teddy Tahu Rhodes, which is a good thing. Directors are realizing that they have great voices and great bodies and are taking advantage of it.

It's not often that you see a Figaro with his shirt wide open. It adds an element to the opera that one doesn't get in most productions. Kudos to Dallas Opera for this production, which also features barihunk Michael Todd Simpson as Count Almaviva. Now that's a double beef whopper.

Okulitch is staking out firm ground as one of the leading barihunks of our generation, performing nude in The Fly, stripped down to his scivvies in Dead Man Walking and now performing with his shirt wide open in Le Nozze di Figaro. In addition to his pulchitrudinous form, he also is a very gifted singer as one can see from the video (courtesy of www.dallasopera.org).

Okulitch will be singing two more barihunk roles in the near future. He returns to his native Canada to sing Escamillo in Carmen with the Vancouver Opera in January 2009 (http://www.vancouveropera.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=15). Then in May 2009, he appears in Dead Man Walking with the Ft. Worth Opera (http://www.fwopera.org).

You can search this site for plenty more pictures of Okulitch.

You can contact this site at barihunks@gmail.com

It's Hot in Ft. Worth

If you live in Dallas, you may want to hop on Interstate 30 and head over to Ft. Worth where they are burning up the stage with some Barihunks favorites. The top photo is of Craig Verm who appeared on this site in August (http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=verm). The next photo is of one of my personal favorites, David Adam Moore, who I've had a tough time finding barihunky photos of for this site. Luckily, we now have this photo from the Ft. Worth Opera's production of Peter Eotvos’ “Angels in America,” which attests to why we'd like to see more, more, more...

The Ft. Worth Opera has also announced that it will perform one of our favorite operas at this site, Dead Man Walking, with one of our most popular barihunks, Daniel Okulitch. If you haven't checked out his hot Canadian, we have plenty of photos (http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=okulitch). For more information on Dead Man Walking, visit their website at www.fwopera.org. This should be a great night in the theater.

Once again, if you have photos that you'd like to share, please send them to barihunks@gmail.com.