DAN'S PAPERS, July 9, 2010 Page 34 www.danshamptons.com
Who’s Here
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Carnegie Hall, where he took on the songs of Judy Garland. The latter was nominated for a Grammy. In 2009, Wainwright’s premiere opera, Prima Donna, debuted in Manchester, England. It tells the story of an aging opera singer making her comeback as she falls in love with a journalist. Wainwright had always thought he would write an opera, and believes that this first foray is only the beginning. He enjoys the fact that he can use his stature as a rock/pop musician to introduce a younger audience to the genre of opera. “That is the great triumph of this process,” he said. “About three-quarters of the audience have never even been to the opera.” After the Manchester premiere, the work was most recently performed at Toronto’s Luminato Festival in June. But for now, while Prima Donna is having a life of its own and before Wainwright hits the road, he’ll do his solo show at WHBPAC this Sunday. The shows on Wainwright’s current tour have been two parts. During the first half, he performs his latest album in its entirety, as a classical song cycle, with no applause permitted until he’s finished the entire piece. This is because the material on this record is harrowing both technically and emotionally, Wainwright said, and he needs to be able to fully focus on the songs. As it says on his web site, you may “applaud to your heart’s content” during the second part of the show, which follows a brief intermission. That latter half of the evening will feature material from his bevy of previous releases and has a much lighter feel.
The July 11 WHBPAC show will deviate from this structure, however. Though Wainwright will certainly perform songs from his latest release, they won’t be performed as a song cycle, and he’ll also focus on much lighter fare. “It’ll be a fun, summer show,” he said. Also, he mentioned that the audience can expect to see his father join him on stage. Similar to the album, Wainwright’s tour will be stripped down, featuring just him on piano. Practically speaking, there’s a recession going on, he said, and he’s not unaffected by it. “There are no more record companies. People aren’t doing big shows. I had to strip it down. This is my own austerity measure.” The music on this album also lent itself to this kind of stark presentation, as Wainwright bares his soul while tackling heavy, personal issues. The result is a darker, melancholy album— sparser than his previous releases. Yet Wainwright manages to infuse it with his signature flair and theatrical bent that has long prompted music critics to refer to his style as “baroque pop.” All Days Are Nights features nine original songs—including the closing aria from Prima Donna—as well as three adaptations of Shakespeare sonnets that he culled from a project he worked on with avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson. The original material was written as Wainwright’s mother, Kate McGarrigle, was dying from cancer. This was therapeutic for him, as he struggled to come to terms with the realization that his mother was dying. She passed away in January.
“I chose to face the music with music,” Wainwright said. “A lot of grief passed through this material. As my mother was passing away, the piano was the only place I could really be alone and process the emotions running through me.” Behind the protection of his piano, which he refers to as his “shield” and “cocoon,” he was able “to shut off the outside world” while he dealt with his grief. While in this place of grief, Wainwright also turned to an image that had gotten him through tough times since he was a child—that of silent movie actress Louise Brooks, who starred in films such as Pandora’s Box. “She’s always been a haunting figure in my life,” he said. “Whenever I’m inclined to get kind of crazy, she turns up. Whenever I disappear into the darkness, she appears.” This helps him to channel this energy, so he doesn’t get lost. “I think it’s really important to visualize your demons,” he said. Brooks’ influence on him during this period was so profound, that he named the album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu. But despite that period of introspection, Wainwright is operating at full tilt, already planning projects for when his U.S. tour is finished in August. Once he arrives home in Montauk, he’ll work on orchestrating several of the sonnets for the San Francisco Symphony. Rufus Wainwright at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, Sunday, July 11, 8:30 p.m. Tickets $60, $100, $140. Whbpac.org; 631288-1500. For more information about Wainwright, go to rufuswainwright.com.