Opera Australia’s special event Opera Up Late at Sydney Opera House in February

Expanding up in Melbourne, all people in comedian-cabaret star Reuben Kaye’s household – the Krums – cherished opera, such as him.

Each his filmmaker mothers and fathers loved viewing it, and his brother Samuel, a countertenor, liked singing it and now operates as an agent for opera singers in London.

“I forced them to watch me engage in Carmen and enacted each and every loss of life in opera, from Lucia di Lammermoor in her blood-stained nightie dying of madness, to the tragedy of Tosca who I’d perform, slipping off the back again of the sofa,” the queer comic states.

“I’m a melodramatic Jewish gay boy, want I say far more?” says the performer best acknowledged for his appearances on ABC’s Spicks and Specks, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival galas and SBS’s Celebrity Letters and Figures.

His grandmother Marie cherished opera singer Joan Sutherland so much, she at the time delivered some flowers and a homemade cake to the Sydney Opera House phase door.

Now Kaye will make his Opera House debut on the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage, when he hosts two exclusive performances of Opera Up Late, a bespoke arts celebration from Opera Australia in affiliation with Sydney WorldPride.

Opera Up Late, described as a grand collision of higher opera and drag cabaret directed by Opera Australia’s award-winning Shaun Rennie, will incorporate queer romance, drag and opera’s most renowned arias.

It will also shine a mild on the extraordinary talent the queer local community provides to the nationwide opera corporation.

“Queerness is stitched into the material of opera with all those people tight corsets and substantial drama involving flawed gentlemen and tragic women,” suggests Kaye.

“Through the a long time we have noticed how elitist opera has develop into, but this will take it back again to its populist ideal in a cabaret setting.

“I won’t be the 1st drag queen to perform on stage at the Joan Sutherland Theatre and I certainly won’t be the final.”

Loading

With performances commencing at 11pm on February 18 and 23, the clearly show will provide a scarce late evening peek beneath the city’s well known sails.

Australian tenors Tomas Dalton and Benjamin Rasheed, mezzo-soprano Angela Hogan and soprano Cathy-Di Zhang and musical theatre’s growing star Annie Aitken will perform.

Rennie – who directed the offered-out 25th anniversary manufacturing of Hire at the Opera Household, revived La Boheme this yr, and worked as the assistant director on Aida – suggests this will be no common night time at the opera.

“I am thrilled to work with Opera Australia and Sydney WorldPride to develop a evening that celebrates opera and other wonderful musical anthems by a queer lens, as very well as celebrating the exceptional queer talent on stage,” suggests Rennie.

Preparations are currently beneath way across the town for WorldPride, which operates February 17 until March 5.

From Monday, January 9, George Street north, close to Wynyard, will be transformed into a huge LGBTIQA+ Pride rainbow flag.

Loading

Color co-ordinated seating will also be place in place as part of the operates, Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

“We are bringing a kaleidoscope of color to the heart of the city as we celebrate variety, inclusion and tolerance,” Moore mentioned.

Kaye, who adjusted his surname from Krum in honour of performer Danny Kaye, will also carry out his award-winning show The Butch Is Back again at the Enmore Theatre on April 28 with his 6-piece band and two solo reveals at Bondi Pavilion on February 21 and 22 for WorldPride.

A cultural guideline to likely out and loving your city. Indicator up to our Culture Deal with e-newsletter below.