BlackBook Magazine

New York City Opera recently called for an aria-infused interpretation of "I wish I knew how to quit you!" when news came that Brokeback Mountain would become an opera. The whole thing seemed destined for punchlines like this one: "Well, we all know how the boys hit their high notes, hehe. Because, you see, they're total gays." But, NYMag.com suggests that history might prove helpful in warding off parody, by citing operatic inclinations towards sexual ambivalence ("Mozart’s Cherubino from Le Nozze di Figaro, Strauss’s Octavian from Rosenkavalier, and Gluck’s Orestes and Pylades from Iphigénie en Tauride, to name a few") and, yes, cowboys ("Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West").

Madonna recently told Vanity Fair that New York isn’t what it used to be, that it doesn’t feel alive anymore, and that the synergy between art, music, and fashion is no more. That’s because Joey Arias has been hiding in Las Vegas for the last six years, duh! The drag diva with the speakeasy voice was handling Mistress of Seduction duties at Zumanity, Cirque du Soleil’s carnal carnival. And in a "you can take the drag queen out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the drag queen" twist of irony, the show was at the New York, New York Hotel & Casino.

Shed clothes, but no tears, for Broadway’s Cry-Baby star James Snyder.

James Snyder may play every grandmother’s nightmare as the pouty greaser hoodlum Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker. But remove the wig and attitude, and there’s a fresh-faced California boy. As he shares with a reporter photos of his childhood home in Sacramento, his family, and his girlfriend (as well as the latter’s pet dog, sadly eaten by a coyote), Snyder cheerfully gripes that he is sleepless—not, mind you, from bar-hopping, but from assembling furniture.

It would seem that this is the year of the musical. With In The Heights, Altar Boyz, and Sweeney Todd getting major accolades, the gaping hole Rent is soon to leave once it takes off from the theater circuit in June surely won't have any problems being filled with new musicals trying to establish themselves as not lame.

It's hard to decline an invitation to ogle sexy dancers and their nipple tassels. So hard, in fact, that we couldn't. As such, we recently checked out This Is Burlesque, an old timey Vaudevillian show with '20s flair. The performance stars funny man Murray Hill and neo-burlesque star Angie Pontani. Dancers were gussied in elaborate costumes—not to mention perfectly sculpted when said costumes came off. Murray, a crowd favorite, got away with lecherous jokes without seeming creepy, and his interjections throughout the show added to the enjoyment of watching two boobs cycling in opposite directions.

From September 25 to February 8, composers of Harry Potter erotic fan fiction will have the incredible opportunity to infuse their descriptive writing with unparalleled realism. That’s because Harry himself is coming to Broadway, with broomstick on full display. Actor Daniel Radcliffe is reprising his role as a disturbed stable boy in Peter Shaffer’s Tony-award winning play Equus, which made waves in London not only for Radcliffe’s acclaimed performance, but for the then-underage star's full onstage nudity. Previews begin September 5 at the Broadhurst Theatre. Radcliffe will be performing when Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince is released on November 2, meaning his wand will cast a spell over this fair city.

Though it’s billed as a love story, Rainbow Kiss, written by Scotland’s Simon Farquhar and directed by Will Frears, is actually about its unrequited corollary. Set in Aberdeen, Scotland’s “Granite City,” Kiss follows Keith (played by Peter Scanavino), a sad fellow who spends his days hating a dead-end job, and his nights tending to his infant son alone. All work and no play, Keith despises his life, until he meets a captivating woman at a bar and takes her home with him.