It seems only natural that the first production staged at 825 Arts, a 1915 silent-film theater in St. Paul that reopened this month as a modern theater venue, would be “Divas & Drag” — and Monday, Sept. 23, is your last chance to catch the show.
“Divas & Drag,” produced by local organization An Opera Theatre, reimagines and recontextualizes what founder Kelly Turpin calls “vintage” operatic music, alongside drag and burlesque performances. This is the third iteration of the show, first staged in 2019 and then last year, and this year’s performance is the first to feature burlesque alongside drag.
This year’s iteration of “Divas & Drag” opened Sept. 19, and remaining showtimes include 7 p.m. Sept. 21, 4 p.m. Sept. 22 and 7 p.m. Sept. 23, a performance that will be ASL-interpreted. The Sept. 22 performance is alcohol-free; refreshments at all shows are provided by Can Can Wonderland. Tickets (pay-as-you’re-able; suggested $20) can be purchased online and more info can be found at anoperatheatre.org.
There’s so much cultural baggage around opera, Turpin said, but it doesn’t need to feel pretentious or inaccessible. It’s just a way of setting emotional stories to music, she said — which makes for a much more natural connection to drag performance than many people think.
“They’re all about the big emotions of how the music makes you feel, how it visually makes you feel, what the artists are choosing to portray,” she said.” Which I think makes it feel a little more approachable, that there’s no tightness around it.”
In this way, the show comes together pretty organically, she said. This year’s “Divas & Drag” is structured like a retro 1960s-era talk show, hosted by a well-known local drag MC who goes by Dick von Dyke. Each segment of the show is a joint performance by one or a few of the cast’s five professional opera singers and nine drag and burlesque performers, including von Dyke and burlesque performer Queenie von Curves as co-artistic producers.
“It’s a lot of puzzle piecing,” Turpin said. “The opera performers send us stuff they love singing or have always wanted to learn or is from a role you feel like you’ll never get hired in that you always want to do. And then, who do we have from the drag and burlesque side who has that vibe — or who could do something completely different from what we would expect?”
A central goal of “Divas & Drag,” and of An Opera Theatre as an organization, Turpin said, is to bring spontaneity and freedom and personal expression into opera. At “Divas & Drag” shows, for example, there aren’t English translations of classical opera lyrics projected above the stage or printed in programs, as some professional companies do — as if to reinforce that the real emotional punch of a good show comes not from the words being sung or an audience member’s knowledge of the show but rather from the artistry of the performance.
“Sometimes performers forget they can have their own ideas or express themselves in different ways and don’t have to mimic what people were doing 50 years ago,” she said. “And then to match that with the drag and burlesque community here in the cities — the top of the top — (performers can) be comfortable with the theatricality of what you’re presenting, and the character and the costumes, so there is room for that improvisational playfulness.”
If you go
What: “Divas & Drag,” a show that pairs up professional opera singers with drag performers to reimagine classic opera works
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21; 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22; 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23; 100-minute showtime includes 15-minute intermission.
Where: 825 Arts, 825 W. University Ave., St. Paul
Tickets: Pay as you’re able; suggested $20 with a “pay it forward” ticket for $35; more info at anoperatheatre.org
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