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Liz Bouk
Lucas Bouk is an American opera singer and actor from Rochester, New York. He came out in 2018 as a trans man, and played his first role as an openly trans man in a jazz opera character written with him in mind. A play about his transitioning was staged in 2018, and revived in 2019. In June 2019, he became the first openly transgender opera singer in a featured role written for a transgender singer in ''Stonewall''. Education and personal life Lucas Bouk grew up in Rochester, New York in a conservative environment, with "misunderstanding, misattunement, and pain" from his conflicted gender identity. He married his high school sweetheart when they were both 21. Bouk studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. After graduate school Bouk and his husband had a child together. The pregnancy and birth were extremely difficult for Bouk: "I felt drowned and suffocated by cisgendered parenting expectations. My son's existence wasn't the problem, it was all the social norms and expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as '' Singspiel'' and '' Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with shows that tackle "unexpected themes that range far beyond the enre'straditional subjects" with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication." His shows address "darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience," with songs often tinged with "ambivalence" about various aspects of life. He was known for his frequent collaborations with Hal Prince and James Lapine on the Broadway stage. Sondheim's interest in musical theater began at a young age, and he was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II. He began his career by writing the lyrics for ''West Side Story'' (1957) and ''Gypsy'' (1959). He transitioned to writing both music and lyrics for the theater, with his best-known works including '' A Funny Thing Happened on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic ''verismo'' style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. His most renowned works are ''La bohème'' (1896), ''Tosca'' (1900), '' Madama Butterfly'' (1904), and ''Turandot'' (1924), all of which are among the most frequently performed and recorded of all operas. Family and education Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini in Lucca, Italy, in 1858. He was the sixth of nine children of Michele Puccini (1813–1864) and Albina Magi (1830–1884). The Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
As One (opera)
''As One'' is a chamber opera for two voices and a string quartet composed and created by Laura Kaminsky with librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. It is a coming-of-age story about transgender woman Hannah, depicting her journey through her transition. The opera premiered in September of 2014 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Roles Synopsis Hannah is a transgender woman (portrayed by two singers, Hannah Before (a baritone) and Hannah After (a mezzo-soprano)). During the scenes, Hannah discovers her gender identity and learns to love herself in a world where she is not accepted. The opera is approximately 75 minutes long."The Arc of a Transgender Life – ''As One'' Has Its Premiere in Brooklyn" by David Allen, '' |
The Tank (theater)
The Tank is a nonprofit off-off-Broadway performance venue and producer in Manhattan, New York. The organization was founded in May 2003 by a group of young artists and has since moved several times, residing on 36th Street . The Tank presents art across several disciplines (comedy, dance, theater, music, film), produced at no fee for use of the venue to the presenting artists. The Tank houses two performance spaces (a 56-seat black box and a 98-seat proscenium) and five rehearsal studios. Beyond presenting work at its resident home in Manhattan, the theater has also produced shows performed elsewhere throughout New York City, collectively presenting over 1,000 performances each year. Between 2016 and 2018, five of the theater's shows were nominated for a total of six Drama Desk Awards and in 2020, the theater itself received an Obie Award for its work supporting emerging artists. History The Tank was founded in May 2003 in Manhattan, New York, by eight artists, all recent col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One-man Show
A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including autobiographical creations, comedy acts, novel adaptations, vaudeville, poetry, music and dance. In 1996, Rob Becker's ''Defending the Caveman'' became the longest running solo (one man) play in the history of Broadway. Traits of solo performance Solo performance is used to encompass the broad term of a single person performing for an audience. Some key traits of solo performance can include the lack of the fourth wall and audience participation or involvement. Solo performance does not need to be written, performed and produced by a single person—a solo performance production may use directors, writers, designers and composers to bring the piece to life on a stage. An example of this collaboration is Eric Bogosian in the published version o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coming-of-age Story
In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action, and are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers. The ''Bildungsroman'' is a specific subgenre of coming-of-age story. The plot points of coming of age stories are usually emotional changes within the character(s) in question. ''Bildungsroman'' In literary criticism, coming-of-age novels and ''Bildungsroman'' are sometimes interchangeable, but the former is usually a wider genre. The ''Bildungsroman'' (from the German words ''Bildung'', "education", alternatively "forming" and ''Roman'', "novel") is further characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features. It focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris. Dadaist activities lasted until the mid 1920s. Developed in reaction to World War I, the Dada movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works. The art of the movement spanned visual, literary, and sound media, including collage, sound poetry, cut-up technique, cut-up writing, and sculpture. Dadaist artists expressed their discontent toward violence, war, and nationalism, and maintained political affinities with Radical politics, radical left-wing and far-left politics. There is no consensus on the origin of the movement's name; a common story is that the German artis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass (liturgy), Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet. ''Libretto'' (; plural ''libretti'' ), from Italian, is the diminutive of the word ''wiktionary:libro#Italian, libro'' ("book"). Sometimes other-language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, ''livret'' for French works, ''Textbuch'' for German and ''libreto'' for Spanish. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. Some ballet historians also use the word ''libretto'' to refer to the 15 to 40 page books which were on sale to 19th century ballet audiences in Paris and contained a ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodgers And Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular Broadway productions in the 1940s and 1950s initiated what is considered the "golden age" of musical theater. Gordon, John Steele''Oklahoma'!'. Retrieved June 13, 2010 Five of their Broadway shows, ''Oklahoma!'', '' Carousel'', '' South Pacific'', ''The King and I'' and ''The Sound of Music'', were outstanding successes, as was the television broadcast of ''Cinderella'' (1957). Of the other four shows that the team produced on Broadway during their lifetimes, ''Flower Drum Song'' was well-received, and none was an outright flop. Most of their shows have received frequent revivals around the world, both professional and amateur. Among the many accolades their shows (and film versions) garnered were thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, ''Kiss Me, Kate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
