First, let me apologize to Josiah for interupting his post week; it's just that I'm finally at the point where this contest can be wrapped up, and I'm sure you're all dying to know the results! So, without any further ado, ladies and gent, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Maoist Orange Cake Drag King Name Contest is (cue drum roll in your head);
Cervix Merchandise! (submitted by lil' gator)
Little Gator, on your right, you will see pictured some of the fabulous prizes you will be recieving:
1.Pinstriped fedora, festooned with Drag King crown;
2. One bag of the finest imitation human hair (I know, it looks like weed, but trust me it's just hair)
3. Spirit gum for hair application, plus spirit gum remover.
4. Two eyebrow pencils in case the spirit gum doesn't work out.
5. One snazzy grey wool tie (not pictured).
6. One disposable camera (also not pictured).
(And sorry, Mr. Tiger is not included in the prize package. I would if I could, but he's not mine---his presence is strictly for modeling purposes only.)
Lil' Gator---you mission, should you choose to accept it, is to don said Drag King gear, and record what Mr Cervix Merchandise may possibly look like with the included camera, then post the picture on this same blog! If you accept this mission, I can be reached at shadocat55@yahoo.com, and we can discuss the mailing arrangements of your prizes> Remember, this part is strictly voluntary---no pressure.
Now we return to our regular programming; Please read Josiah's excellent post, and write many comments!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
And The Winner Is...
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23 comments:
Shado, the result of the Drag King contest is worth the interruption! Many congratulations to Little Gator and/or Cervix Merchandise!
Shado, I hope you're feeling better!
Lil'Gator...
I sure hope you go for it!
I'll be waiting by my computer for the photos!!
My favorite thing about the whole get-up is the fedora...this isn't the greatest picture of it, but it is slammin', if I do say so myself. Sure beats the cowboy hat I was going to use. I just wish I hadn't forgotten to put the tie on the kitty...
I haven't decided how to deal with this stupendous but potentially embarrasing honor.
BUt I thank everyone who voted for me.
Though I did hope Mr. Tiger would be included. I think he would like Roy G. Biv the white tiger who lives on my key ring and has an LED for a tongue. The G is for Gerald, since he was a gift form a friend named Geraldine.
MR Gator has an similar tiger(though orangeinstead of white) named Bitey Ornage Tiger.
Hello!
This is slightly off topic.....ok, a lot off topic!
A friend just sent me the link to a silly little quiz for opera geeks.
"Which Trouser Role Character Are You?"
Drag is a big part of opera, and there are tons of characters that are male but sung (for a variety of reasons) by women.
Even if you're not familiar with the actual character assigned to you, the little blurbs under the pictures of the results are really funny.
here ya go!
http://www.quizilla.com/users/quinquin/quizzes/Which%20Trouser%20Role%20Are%20You%3F/
oh noes!
it didn't paste properly!
I'll try to do the link as my "web page" and see if that works....
aha, yes,
click my blue underlined name on the post above
I'm Octavian, though I'm not sure how accurate that is. It was the first question that threw things off: "Who do you tend to fall in love with?" There was no answer that referred in any way to felines! Elegant older women seemed to be the closest I could get.
I love the list of trouser roles, though. Why don't opera creators do trouser roles any more? They are sooooo cool. If there are any recently created trouser roles around, Kat will be able to tell me.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith Floss Forbes: When you don't know the tune, sing tenor.
I'm Cherubino. Apparently because I fall in love with men.
Jana--
don't know of any recent operas that use trouser roles. The most recent ones I can think of are from the early 20th century: The Child (in L'enfant et les sortileges), Octavian and the other Strauss ones (the page in Salome, the quasi-trouser role of the little sister in Arabella).....hm....anything later than that......
ooh, Oberon in Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten.....it's sometimes sung by a baritone, though)
that's all I can come up with now....The Little Prince was turned into an opera recently, but I think they're casting a child as the prince, rather than a woman.
Little Gator, I'm a Cherubino, too, and I do NOT fall in love with men. Maybe it's that bitter regret question...
I don't fall in love with men either, but I'm Cherubino as well. Perhaps it's the "worst fear" question?
"Trouser roles" may have fallen out of favor in opera, but I believe they're still a standard part of the English pantomime tradition. (That's pantomime as in "panto", the silly fairy-tale-with-lots-of-innuendo usually put on at Christmastime, not pantomime as in Marcel Marceau.) "Jack" of "Jack and the Beanstalk" is usually played by a woman, as is Dick Whittington (which, of course, presents plenty of opportunities for the obvious jokes). Some pantomimes don't have a trouser role, but nearly all of them include a "pantomime Dame", which is a man in drag as a lacivious older woman. Ian McKellen played the Widow Twanky in "Aladdin" last Christmas.
Josiah, I just read an interview with Ian McKellan where he talked about the pantomime thing....
I think that came out of Commedia dell'Arte or something, because early 17th C opera also used the "skirt role." Large men would play bumbling old women.
I have a feeling that all you Cherubinos are due to an answer that said "I just don't know what to do" (or whatever it was). That's a quote from one of his arias.
I managed to get Octavian.....with only a little bit of manipulation of the quiz!! He's my favorite trouser role. Even if he does end up with a dumb blond at the end!
Maggie, just wanted to say I love your newest picture! I swear, you look younger every day...
Shado -- well, speaking of Cherubino...
Kat, I also cannot think of any trouser roles later than the early 20th century. I think it's due to the change in women's fashions that began in the 1920s. It is now possible--indeed, commonplace--to see women's legs without going to the theatre and watching a woman play a man's role in male clothing.
With countertenors and male sopranos making a come-back, the main reason for trouser roles has become specifically for the gender-bending effect. If all you want is a high voice you can cast a countertenor, though of course the sound is not identical.
For an example of a male soprano (the only one I know about), google "David Korn". I haven't yet figured out how to post a long link without it running off the page.
Jana C.H
Seattle
Saith Octavien:... Rats! I can't think of a quote!
Jana,
you are probably right about the legs thing.
Some trouser roles are there because the characters are supposed to be kids, so a countertenor might be a little weird...but yeah, I think that Mozart wrote Cherubino for a woman partly because he got off on it.
If y'all are interested in men who sing with high voices, check out:
-David Daniels (very famous countertenor of the moment)
-Daniel Taylor (better than the above, but less famous. Sings a lot of Bach)
-Andreas Scholl
There's a Canadian guy who call himself a "Sopranist." I'd never heard the term before (and I suspect that he might have made it up...I mean, coined it...), but he's like a countertenor, but with a higher range.
His name is Michael Maniaci.
If you're interested in the wonderful mezzos who make careers playing boys (and occasionally men) check out:
-Tatiana Troyanos
-Christa Ludwig
-Anna Sophie Von Otter
-Susan Graham (drool, drool, drool)
And many, many more....
Saith Octavian:
"I feel only you and you alone
and that we are together!
All else passes like a dream
through my mind"
(as he abandons his older lover for the dumb blond...)
It sounds like that Canadian sopranist has the same sort of voice as David Korn, who calls himself a male soprano: a falsetto that’s higher than a countertenor. I wonder which nomenclature will eventually win out.
I saw David Korn as Miles in The Turn of the Screw not long ago, and having a (short) adult in the role gave the show an entirely different flavor from the production I saw several years back with a boy soprano. As the opera progressed and Quint increased his dominance over Miles, the “boy” began being more and more sexual with the Governess, turning into a man in a really creepy way. Finally Miles and Quint appeared together with Miles as a smaller duplicate of Quint. I found it horrific, and quite effective.
It’s not all dying lovers after all, is it?
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith Prince Orlofsky: In my house every lady has the right to cover and uncover as much as she likes.
I've been lured in! Hiya folks!
I had a videotape of Tatania Troyanos as Count Orlofski, taken from PBS in about 1983... and inadverdantly taped over the second act! Arrrgh! I have sought a record of that production - Troyanos was quite hot, I thought. Anyone have an inkling?
Also, more drag king names past and present, on Anderson Toone's Timeline:
http://andersontoone.com/timeline/dktimeline.html
It only goes up to 2002, alas.
Jana--whoa, way to take a weird show and make it weirder...
I don't know how I feel, though, about directors changing voice-casting just for the fun (or psychological drama) of it. I'm not saying I'm against it, just confuzzed.
Sir Real--Google tells me that Kiri Te Kanawa sang Rosalinde in that production (from 1986). I wonder whether you can get another copy from the Met. Their "opera shop" thingy has lots of videos and dvd's.
Troyanos was supposedly a lesbian, and yes, was pretty hot!
Anyhow, off to read the new post!
Kat-- My general view is that a director has a right to his vison of a show as long as he doesn't violate the original spirit of the work. Turn of the Screw is a weird show, so making it weirder is, to my mind, legitimate. But there really is no hard-and-fast rule on this; one has to judge an individual production on its own merits.
Well, I'm off to Beaver Lake in the distant suburbs of Sammamish for a huge party for the Seattle G&S Society and the Northwest Savoyards. See you later!
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith WSG: The rollicking bun and the gay Sally Lunn!
Sometimes the "weird" (or, better put, innovative, ecclectic, etc) productions are fantastic and really make you think about things.
Sometimes, though, they just make you cringe. I'm thinking particularly of the production of Cosi fan Tutte where all were dressed like frogs.
Or the Stuttgart Don Giovanni where everyone was sitting on toilets.
I hate it when directors just want to shock.
(If they want to shock by illuminating some interesting aspect of the libretto or score, though, that's different)
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