Corey Crider, Charles Eaton, Thomas Forde and Erik Larson
The Madison Opera will be performing Bizet's Carmen on November 3rd and 5th with a quartet of barihunks. The group is led be Corey Crider as Escamillo, along with Thomas Forde as Zuniga, Charles H. Eaton as Moralès and Erik Earl Larson as Dancäire.
They will be joined by Aleks Romano in the title role, hunkentenor Sean Panikkar as Don José and Cecilia Violetta López as Micaëla. Tickets are available online.
Thomas Forde from the first Barihunks Calendar
Three of the barihunks have appeared with the company before, with Corey Crider performing Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Thomas Forde in Verdi's Un ballo in Maschera and Erik Earl Larson appearing in Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Charles H. Eaton is making his company debut and was recently interviewed on the company's blog. With all of these sexy men to choose from, one has to wonder why things don't end better for Carmen!
Longtime followers of this blog will recall that Thomas Forde appeared in our original Barihunks Calendar with two photos, both sporting one of our tee shirts. Forde, who lost 100 pounds on his journey from BariChunk to BariHunk, also counsels singers about fitness. Visit his website for more information.
Click HERE to listen to Thomas Forde sing "I'm a lonely man" from Carlisle Floyd's Susannah.
2018 Barihunks Calendar
Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for
purchase HERE.
In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book
this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the
calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!
Bass-Barihunk Thomas Forde's career has been a nice mix of opera and musical theater in recent years. On the opera stage he's performed everything from Rosini's The Barber of Seville to Shostakovich's The Nose, while he's been featured on the musical theater stage in both Les Miserables andSondheim's Sweeney Todd.
This Summer and Fall, he'll be featured in the dream role for a bass on in a musical when he sings Lurch in The Addams Family: The Broadway Musical. The production will run at the New Theater Kansas City from July 16 – September 20, 2015. The Addmas Family features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys), and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. The musical is based on an original story. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. A man her parents have never met. She confides in her father (Gomez) and begs him not to tell her mother Morticia. He must do something he's never done before - keep a secret from his beloved wife. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday's "normal" boyfriend and his parents.
Thomas Forde
Thomas Forde is also another of the many great bari-chunk to bari-hunk stories, having lost 100 pounds despite a thyroid condition, and even being featured in the Barihunks charity calendar. He also lectures about fitness and maintaining a healthy life style for those on the road. you can read more about it on his website.
[Top Photo - Mariusz Kwiecien by Marty Sahl, next photo of Kwiecien in Seattle Opera's Marriage; Bottom - Jiroslaw Kitala as Aeneas]
We love Hot Poles at Barihunks and we're lucky to have two of them burning up the opera stages of the world. The bottom photo is Jiroslaw Kitala looking like he just left a toga party to perform in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Chorzów Culture Center.
Once again Seattle Opera has secured house favorite Mariusz Kwiecien to heat up their latest Mozart offering. The original Hot Pole will be singing Count Almaviva (alternating with fellow barihunk Johannes Mannov. BTW, Nicolas Cavallier is singing Figaro and I'd love feedback on whether he belongs on the site). One thing is certain, Kwiecien ALWAYS delivers a riveting performance and he remains one of the best singing actors on the stage today.
Seattle Opera remains one of the leading stages for Barihunks in America and they always put on a good show. Recently, emerging barihunk Thomas Forde was featured on this site in Seattle Opera's production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. If you haven't been, pay them a visit. You can learn more or just enjoy some great media at http://www.seattleopera.org. You can watch Kwiecien in action on the video posted above.
Hopefully, we'll see the other Hot Pole, Jiroslaw Kitala, on their stage in the near future. How about as Don Giovanni and Leporello?
