GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

March 27, 2009

www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

eveningsout

The barber is out

Baritone Brian Leerhuber says being gay gives him an advantage on stage

by Richard M. Berrong

Cleveland-Brian Leerhuber does not look like the conventional idea of an opera singer. The athletic San Francisco baritone, who is here rehearsing

you really wanted to do," Leerhuber recounted with a laugh. "It seemed like he gave you nothing, yet it ended up looking like a Woody Allen movie. The audience went wild, laughing almost non-stop through the entire per-

stage that straight men don't.

"They don't allow themselves to be as free with their bodies," he has found. "Deep down, they don't want to be laughed at."

For someone who often performs in comedies like The Barber of Seville, Leerhuber finds that having accepted himself as a gay man "gives me a lot more creative freedom."

It has also prepared him for the less glamorous side of being an opera singer. Marilyn Horne once told him and other young singers, "More of your life than not, you're in a strange city crying."

Though he has a partner of 12 years with whom he shares a home in San Francisco, Leerhuber spends at least six months a year on the road. Being gay teaches you how to deal with iso-

lation, he finds, and has given him. tools to handle it.

The opera world is particularly changing now for lesbian singers, he added, because some of the big names, such as Patricia Racette, have come out. There have always been lesbians behind the scenes in opera who could be out or not as they chose. But it is only recently that those appearing on stage, often in roles that require them to portray a woman in love with a man, have felt that they could be equally open with impunity.

Leerhuber appears as The Barber of Seville in Opera Cleveland's production March 27 and April 4 at 8 pm, March 29 at 2 pm. For tickets contact Playhouse Square at 216241-6000 or go to www.play housesquare.com.

BRIAN BOWERS

Brian Leerhuber

the title role for Opera Cleveland's The Barber of Seville, is at home in jeans and a T-shirt. Though he has alread appeared with some of the nation's leading opera companies, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houstaon, Santa Fe, and Chicago's Lyric Opera, he has yet to celebrate his 40th birthday.

Leerhuber has also worked with Hollywood luminaries like Woody Allen, who directed him in a production of Puccini's comedy Gianni Schicchi for the Los Angeles Opera.

"Woody would say 'Go' and not give any staging, allowing you to do what

formance."

Other innovative productions brought tears rather than laughter. For the Minnesota Opera two years ago, Leerhuber created the male lead, Tom Joad, in the première of Ricky Ian Gordon's setting of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Musical America hailed it as "the great American opera," and it has already been repeated in Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City.

Leerhuber has a lot to say about being an out gay performer in the opera world today. He finds it “an advantage as a performer to be gay" for his creativity; he allows himself to do things on

Mesnard Painting and Faux Finish

Don't answer that

Beverly stops Lorraine (Jennifer Klika) from answering the phone in Dobama Theater's production of The Receptionist, by out playwright Adam Bock. Beverly (Lissy Gulick) is the receptionist in what seems like a typical office, filled with typical people.

However, as the relatively short play proceeds, the audience begins to understand that there is something amiss. Perhaps it is that the boss couldn't properly torture and interrogate someone the day before. Perhaps it's that person from the central office that came in to talk to the boss.

Perhaps the uneasiness comes from not knowing just what this office iscriminal, government, or criminal government.

Pairing The Receptionist with the slapstick one-act H.R. by local writer Eric Coble can also be a bit of a shock. The Receptionist also starts off humorously, but by the end is deadly serious.

An excellent cast and quality direction in both pieces (Joel Hammer in the main event, Joe Verciglio for the opener) combine to make it a worthy evening of theater for any intelligent audience member.

Bock's dark view of things may stem from the fact that he's a Canadian living in the United States. Or, it might have something to do with his queer eye. As he told Outzone, "I'm a gay playwright. I like being called a gay playwright. It's who I am. It's how I write. I have a very specific take on the world because I'm gay."

The Receptionist and H.R. are performed at Pilgrim Congregational UCC, 2592 West 14th Street in Cleveland through April 5. Showtimes are 7:30 pm on Thursdays, 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 pm on Sundays. Tickets are $15-$22, depending on night. For more information, go to www.dobama.org.

-Anthony Glassman