“The art of drag and operatic performance share commonalities in language, form, and function: both require high levels of technical skill and artistic development; both rely upon storytelling through music; both have a grandiosity in visual design and aesthetic quality; and both employ the “Superpowers of a Diva.””
Long Live The Queen (a her-story of drag) is a large-scale work featuring Cookie Diorio as drag artist, librettist, and costume designer, with music by composer Andrea Clearfield. The final work will be one-hour in length and scored for drag soloist (tenor), SATB chorus, and a chamber instrumentation of strings, winds, piano and percussion. The work will explore a unique intersection of opera, drag, performance art, multimedia oratorio, and cabaret.
Original texts by Cookie also incorporate quotations from her role model drag queens, highlighting the role drag plays in our society and the LGBTQ+ community. The piece will contextualize the contributions of drag performers as activists and proponents for social change, as well as the impact our social systems have on drag presented in three periods: Before (When), Now (Conflict), and Forward (Where). The dynamic work will create a vision for understanding, acceptance, and social and cultural change in light of increased discrimination against drag artists and events in the U.S.
Drag has traditionally been used in the opera stage solely as a contrived way to impose specific voice parts upon a character as the travesti role. Conversely, using classical vocal performance to express drag culture, drag history, and contemporary modes of drag performance from an authentic, first-person point of view is an avenue that has yet to be fully explored in opera. The art of drag and operatic performance share commonalities in language, form, and function: both require high levels of technical skill and artistic development; both rely upon storytelling through music; both have a grandiosity in visual design and aesthetic quality; and both employ the “Superpowers of a Diva.”
Prior to the work’s completion, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus will preview Part I in an arrangement for drag soloist, chorus, piano, and percussion at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia on May 17th and 18th, 2024; and again at the GALA Festival (LGBTQ+ Choruses) in Minneapolis on July 13, 2024.
The composer and librettist are currently seeking organizations to serve as co-commissioners for the complete work, and to present it shortly after its premiere in Philadelphia.
Article in Broadway World on Andrea’s NY Premiere on Gender and Identity
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Aria: With Every Stepfrom Part I of Long Live The Queen
Cookie Diorio, vocalist and librettist
Andrea Clearfield, pianist and composer