Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013, February 04, 2000, Page 35, Image 35

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    febmary 4. 2000 » | u t m a l 35
first met baritone Grant Youngblood back in
the days when 1 still trod the boards as a
professional opera singer. Grant filled the
Hult Center in Eugene with his rich, choco-
latey voice in the leading baritone role in Puc­
cini’s Tosco,, and me...well, I played his evil
tenor sidekick. I got to sing such memorable
vocal gems as “Yes, sir,” and “Right away, sir”—
which is why, I suppose, I eventually gave up
opera and now own a sign shop.
Grant, on the other hand, is still singing
the paint off the walls with opera companies
around the country, most notably San Francis­
co Opera, Houston Grand Opera and New
York City Opera. He has performed with the
San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson
Thomas, appeared with the Opera Orchestra of
New York at Carnegie Hall, and this spring
makes his European concert debut performing
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the
Bucharest Philharmonic.
Last year, in Portland Opera’s production of
Faust, he performed grand larceny when he
absolutely stole the show with his sensual
interpretation of Valentin’s aria. For those of
you who missed that show, you’ll get a chance
to hear Youngblood again when he returns to
the Civic Auditorium this month to perform
roles in Portland Opera’s presentation of the
one-act opera Pagliacci paired with a staged ver­
sion of the choral work Carmina Burana.
I reunited with Mr. Tall, Dark and Hand­
some recently to talk about his experiences as
an openly gay performer.
I
As somebody who travels all over the
country, you get the opportunity to experi­
ence gay life in a variety of different settings.
Have you noticed anything in particular
about gay life across the country?
You can find “gay community” just about
anywhere. Some places it’s more visible than
others.
Like that bar in Eugene where it was just
you, me and the stage manager.
That’s one reason why I wear these rainbow
freedom rings around my neck wherever 1 go. If
I’m traveling to smaller towns where there
aren’t a whole lot of out gay people and some­
one in a grocery store says, “Those are pretty,
what are they?” I can explain to them just so
they can say they’ve seen a real live gay person,
as opposed to the stereotypes they hear from
Falwell and the far right.
Good for you. You’re a one-man
consciousness-raising effort.
I try.
Yet opera itself is a surprisingly conserva­
tive profession. Have you encountered dis­
crimination?
Certain companies would rather I not talk
about it. They’re afraid of losing their sub­
scriber base or their donors. My agent has said
that she has heard people refer to me as “that
gay baritone” as opposed to, ya know, “that
good baritone.”
That's interesting. I tend to describe some­
one as a “gay artist” if his work is gay-
themed, but in your case I don’t think it’s
appropriate because you don’t do expressly
gay material.
Alas, no. There are no explicitly gay operas
in the standard repertory.
Why do you suppose opera has such a big
gay following, then?
Well, I guess partly because of the larger-
than-life situations and emotions.
It is a bit over the top.
Banter
with a baritone
was going to be straight, I’d go for
Stella. You could say there’s a vicari­
ous thrill there. But I still wish some­
one had written a hot duet like that
for tenor and baritone. I don’t think
any exists. God knows I’ve looked.
A former professional singer
informally interviews
his still-professional friend,
the good gay baritone
Grant Youngblood
by
I hear that Portland Opera’s staging
of Carmina Burana is pretty sexy, too.
Well, you know, it’s a choral setting of
medieval French, German and Latin poet­
ry written by some randy, drunken semi­
monks.
Semi-monks?
Let’s just say these guys were different
from the Trappists making jelly in Iowa today.
Carmina Burana is all about the cycle of life.
It begins with the famous choral piece “O for-
tuna,” which you’ve heard if you’ve seen Excal-
ibur or The Omen. But it’s really all about the
Empress of Fortune—one day you might be on
top, the next day you might be at the bottom.
M a r c A c it o
So it has a built-in appeal for a gay male
audience.
Hey, shut up, it’s a masterpiece of 20th cen­
tury music.
Whatever. Now, how many months a year
are you on the road?
Anywhere between six and nine.
That’s must be hard on your relationship
with your partner.
E-mail helps a lot.
Not just a bit. I don’t know, maybe gay men
like seeing people in even worse shape than
they are.
And strangely enough, with all of the
cross-dressing of women in “trouser roles”
and all of these hot love scenes between
women, you’d think that opera would have a
big lesbian following.
But it doesn’t. City Opera recently did a
world premiere of a lesbian-themed opera
called Patience and Sarah, perhaps in hopes of
attracting a lesbian audience. I don’t know if it
worked. It really would be nice to see more
dykes up front cheering instead of backstage
building scenery.
Do you suppose lesbians don’t go because
opera is considered elitist?
There’s probably some of that perception
still, although I don’t know why. Supertitles
[the simultaneous translation of the lyrics and
dialogue projected above the stage! have
helped a lot in making opera accessible to the
average citizen. My coach says that they’ve
really saved opera in this country.
I found, in my experience, that openly gay
artists were marginalized in opera, always in
supporting roles or backstage jobs but rarely
in principal roles.
Generally it’s an open secret, but no one
talks about it. It’s different among younger
singers coming up—tbey’ve already come out
before they even start, so they don’t make a
point of hiding it. Among countertenors [male
sopranos] nowadays it’s practically expected.
1 guess that’s because of the androgynous
quality of a man singing in a woman’s range.
As for you, though, the baritone usually
plays the villain, and fairly macho villains at
that. Now, I know you well enough to
assume that you can’t throw or catch a ball...
I’m a better pitcher than a catcher.
We’ll get to your sex life later.
So, is it strange or is it empowering to play
the big, macho heavy all the time?
I think one of the reasons I got into singing
opera was because I thought it was so cool to
be someone else onstage for a while— to be
someone powerful or handsome or charming...
But you are handsome and charming.
I didn’t have that feeling about myself when
I was starting out fifteen some-odd years ago.
How old are you, by the way?
I was 31 when my head shot was taken.
Let’s leave it at that.
Would you describe singing itself as a sex­
ual experience?
Definitely. I think particularly when every­
thing comes together, when you’re singing a
great duet with a great partner, there’s definite­
ly a sexual aspect. 1 don’t know if I’ve ever got­
ten a real woody onstage yet, though. Operatic
singing is about as natural as ballet dancing,
you realize.
Does that mean operatic singing is an
unnatural sexual act?
Only when it’s done right.
You mentioned singing with a great part­
ner, but that partner is always a woman. Is
that strange for you?
I suppose on one level it is, but I’m not real­
ly operating on that level when I’m perform­
ing. Pagliacci, for instance, has one of the
hottest love duets in the whole rep and we end
up in a good clinch, sucking face and all that,
but I love Stella Zembalis, she’s a great col­
league and a really hot babe, so I figure if I ever
And cyberpom.
You said it, not me. We try to stay connect­
ed. We make phone dates. We used to run up
hellacious phone bills until I got a computer.
He’ll come here to see this production.
You’re a full-blooded Native American.
Which tribe?
I’m Lumbee. They’re a tribe of Indians
indigenous to North Carolina.
There’s a certain irony in a Native Ameri­
can performing this quintessential^ European
art form. How has it affected your career?
Well, I’m making my European concert
debut, singing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
in Romania, because the Bucharest Philhar­
monic wanted a Native American baritone to
round out a quartet of international soloists.
Are there any other Native American
opera singers?
I’m sure there must be, but I haven’t run
into them. And I know of one company in the
U.S. that has flat-out said that they hire me
because they get federal money for hiring a
Native American.
No!
Yes!
Hey, a job’s a job. Now, most importantly,
with Carmina Burana’s medieval setting,
you’ll be wearing tights, right?
Very possibly. The dancers certainly will.
Bring your opera glasses.
Will you be dressing to the left or right?
Ah, you’ll have to a buy a ticket to find out.
■ Portland Opera presents PAGLIACCI and
C armina B ur ana Feb. 12 through 19. Far tick­
et prices and show ttmes, cali (503) 241-1802.
MARC A cito is the creator of the comic strip
"The Boys Next Door. ” He and /us partner own
Fastsigns m Tigard.