Nathan Gunn is hot. So sexy he has to take off his shirt regularly on the opera stage, to the delight of his audience. It got to the point that when he went on Stephen Colbert, the host asked him: "Do you perform with clothes on?" The excellent TSR even has a "Wall o'Nathan" for us to ogle at. He is, according to the LA Times, king of the barihunk hill, and even gives interviews on his work-out regimen. more ›

The SF Opera revived yesterday its 2003 production of the Barber of Seville, with Nathan Gunn returning in the role of Figaro. 2003, you say? Indeed, smack in the heart of the Rosenberg era, which means a re-invented version of the popular opera, set in some period best desribed as achronistic, rather than anachronistic: the set is the star of the show, a beautiful, white two story house which spins on its axis to reveal here a bedroom, here a balcony, or downstairs a music room, or a doctor’s office. The rotating set allows the opera to flow smoothly without a break for set change (there is a 25mn intermission still), and the doll house effect is breathtaking, despite a few blind angles here and there. more ›

The Marriage of Figaro is the sequel to The Barber of Seville. Not in the operatic world, where Mozart wrote the Marriage before Rossini did the Barber, but in the Beaumarchais plays upon which the two librettos were based. The two operas thus share the lead character, Figaro, a cunning servant quick on his feet and with his wits. more ›