Rufus Wainwright Reveals New Opera, New Beard

The opera that Rufus Wainwright has been working on for some time now recently debuted in Manchester, UK.

Wrote the NYT: "There are inspired touches and disarmingly beautiful passages in this mysterious, stylistically eclectic work. With a libretto in French by Mr. Wainwright and Bernadette Colomine, 'Prima Donna' depicts a turning point in the life of a prematurely retired opera singer, a day when she confronts the demons that drove her from the stage and finds new resolve. But Mr. Wainwright’s score and his attitude toward the drama often seem muddled, as if he were relying too much on his keen musical and theatrical instincts lest he overthink and impede his imagination."

The BBC recently broadcast a documentary on Wainwright, his family, and the making of the opera, which you can watch, in six parts, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Mars, Brokeback Opera, Arson, Louis Vuitton, Mormons

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Brokeback Mountain opera shelved.

Now we know who can play 'Joe the Plumber' in the McCain biopic.

Australian LGBT youth suicides at disturbingly high levels: "Open Doors surveyed 164 LGB students across the state, and 37 per cent of respondents said they had attempted suicide in the last 12 months, with 82 per cent considering taking their own life. The report also revealed a general attitude of fear among LGB students, with 81 per cent saying they had experienced bullying based on their sexuality."

Anti-gay graffiti discovered at torched home near Charlotte, North Carolina: "Fire investigators declared the home a total loss and sent samples from a bedroom to an SBI lab for testing. Meanwhile, sheriff's Maj. Coy Reid said detectives have one suspect in the case after conducting interviews. Found on a back wall of the house were graffiti of slang words referring to homosexuality. 'We're trying to figure out where that came from and if that is tied in with the fire,' Bump said."

Mayer in training.

Madonna to be the next face of Louis Vuitton? "According to tipsters, the Material Divorcée will be the face of Louis Vuitton’s Spring 2009 campaign and has already been shot by photo wonder duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott."

Holocaust survivors to Mormons: stop Baptisms of dead Jews.

Fear in Florida that the state could become home to immigrant population of five-inch Madagascar hissing cockroaches. In related news, Kentucky man moving to Florida.

Stevens vs. Begich: 90,000 more votes to be counted tomorrow in Alaska Senate race.

Mission over for Mars Lander: "Engineers have not heard from the craft since Sunday 2 November when it made a brief communication with Earth. Phoenix, which landed on the planet's northern plains in May, had been struggling in the increasing cold and dark of an advancing winter. The US space agency says it will continue to try to contact the craft but does not expect to hear from it."

McCaskill being discussed as DNC Chair Howard Dean's replacement when he steps down in January: "In sheer political terms, the choice really wasn’t Dean’s to make. Indeed, any decision on who will serve as the next DNC chair will come with directives from Obama and his aides. And a name being floated around as a possible Dean replacement is one of the president-elect’s closest allies: Claire McCaskill, the junior Senator from Missouri and a national co-chair of the Obama campaign."

CG Animated Wizard of Oz in the works: "The English-language adaptation maintains the tale's main characters and settings. Unlike the MGM classic, however, it's not a musical."

Levi's presents the "People's Premiere" of Milk. Blogger Joe.My.God attended it and has photos.

Naked Boys Singing and ACLU sues the city of Milwaukee for shutting down their show three years ago: "The city temporarily shut down performances of 'Naked Boys Singing!' in August 2005 while it considered the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center's application for a theater permit. The group later received a permit and reopened the show. Larry Dupuis, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which is handling the case, said the city's enforcement seemed unusually zealous, even given the musical's content."

Brad Pitt roughed up by his own security detail?

Study on the failure rates of mobile phones.

Georgia GOP congressman calls Obama Marxist, warns of dictatorship.

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News: Guy Ritchie, Senegal, Matt Foreman, Dubai, Rufus Wainwright

Page Six: MSNBC hiring "glam squad" for Rachel Maddow, forcing her to doff glasses, wear skirt?

Lance Bass and his dance beard Lacey Schwimmer.

London hotel records Josh Hartnett on sex tape.

The Guardian on Guy Ritchie's 'gay movie': "I’ve never seen a gangster thriller punctuated by quite so much homoeroticism. Gerard Butler plays One Two, a rugged beefcake who steals millions of euros from a Russian oligarch and football club owner, Uri Obromavich (Karel Roden). When One Two is not tied to the bed and tortured by Uri’s humourless Soviet henchmen – stripped down to their leather pouches - he is being hit on by his best friend and fellow gang member, Handsome Bob (Tom Hardy)." Madonna and Guy glam it up at premiere...

Gay couple turned away from guesthouse in South Africa.

Senegal jails Belgian retiree and Senegalese partner for marrying in Belgium.

Lesbians jailed for kissing on beach in Dubai: "The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the one-month jail sentence handed down by a lower court to the women, a 30-year-old Lebanese national and a 36-year-old Bulgarian who both pleaded not guilty, 7Days newspaper said. Prosecutors had charged the women with kissing, groping each other and "indecent acts in public," the paper said, adding that this was the first case of its kind in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven states including Dubai."

Former NGLTF Chairman Matt Foreman marries partner Francisco Adex De León in San Francisco: " Mr. De León, 46, is the owner and president of FADesign, a graphic design firm in New York. He graduated from the University of Houston. He is a son of Josefina De León and Francisco A. De León of Houston. Mr. Foreman, 53, is the director of gay and immigrant rights programs at the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund in San Francisco."

NYT Poll of Republican delegates: "The only surprising finding was that 6 percent believe in gay marriage and 43 percent believe in civil unions for gay couples, compared to 46 percent who believe there should be no legal recognition. Thus more Republican delegates support some kind of domestic partnership for gay couples than oppose it."

Daniel Radcliffe on dream role: “I think part of me would love to play a drag queen, just because it would be an excuse to wear loads of eye makeup.”

ABC orders gay-inclusive family doc pilot: "Untitled laffer will revolve around a traditional married couple and their three kids; an older guy, his younger wife and their adopted son; and a gay couple who have just adopted an Asian infant."

New York Metropolitan opera turns down French libretto by Rufus Wainwright about day in the life of an opera diva: "The Met reaction turns the tables on the French-speaking world and its increasingly desperate official attempts to stem the global linguistic hegemony of English. 'Presenting a new opera that is not in English at the Met when it could be in English is an immediate impediment to its potential success with audiences,' Met manager Peter Gelb told the New York Times. 'I hoped he would switch over, but he was determined to do it in French,' he said."

Italy's security forces to launch association for openly gay officers: "The Open Polis association will launch in the northern Italian city of Bologna on 26 September. Membership is open to gay men and women from the police, the paramilitary Carabinieri and tax police, as well as the army and the air force. 'For many of us in uniform, the worry is not violent physical attacks, but blatant discrimination, and daily 'macho' jokes and language,' said Open Polis President Nicola Cicchitti, who serves with Italy's tax police, quoted by Italian daily, Corriere della Sera."

Brokeback Mountain Commissioned for New York City Opera

The New York City opera has commissioned a work by Charles Wuorinen based on the 1997 Annie Proulx short story Brokeback Mountain, which, of course, became perhaps the most groundbreaking gay film of all time:

"The opera is scheduled to premiere in spring 2013, City Opera said Sunday. It will be City Opera's second Wuorinen premiere, following 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories,' which was based on a Salman Rushdie novel and opened in October 2004. 'Ever since encountering Annie Proulx's extraordinary story I have wanted to make an opera on it, and it gives me great joy that Gerard Mortier and New York City Opera have given me the opportunity to do so,' Wuorinen said in a statement."

Rufus Wainwright Focusing on a Day in the Life of an Opera Diva

Rufus Wainwright, who was presented with GLAAD's Stephen F. Kolzak Award (named for the late casting director and given to an openly gay member of the entertainment or media community for his or her work toward eliminating homophobia) at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles over the weekend, told Variety about his next project, Prima Donna, an opera which focuses on a day in the life of an opera diva.

Said Wainwright: "I've written songs for so many years that it's basically become a bodily function. There's nothing glamorous about it whatsoever. I've wanted to write an opera since I was about 14 years old, but I couldn't find a story that I could wrap my head around. (Inspiration came from my fascination with) the construct of the diva, from Maria Callas to Norma Desmond and the (Jean-Jacques Beineix) movie 'Diva' from the '80s. And God darn it, there's a bit of me in that too. Once the lights go down, it all kind of boils down to the same thing. It just has to be good."

Wainwright (pictured here with his partner, German arts administrator Jorn Weisbrodt, at the GLAAD awards) will function "as both composer and librettist (in French)" for the work, which was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.

A Night at La Scala

Rupert Everett escorted longtime friend Donatella Versace to La Scala opera house in Milan Thursday for its opening night, a production of Aida directed by Franco Zeffirelli. The production has created a frenzy with all 11 performances selling out within two hours. It's the director's first production there in 14 years.