ART BEAT  is getting sassy this week! Join me as I snag an exclusive interview with the talented Joel Klein / Maria Toilette. Joel/Maria is one of the creators behind the very cosmopolitan-  Definitely Not Your Typical Opera: Cocktales

http://jkleinmusic.wix.com/mariatoilette#!about1/c5w5

Cocktales is a Gay Sex Drag Cabaret Opera that combines classical opera / new music with verbatim 1st-person retellings of West Coast gay sexual experiences. From rapacious to tender, at its core this piece shows universality among the experiences we try to hide away.

• One night only in Smithers, Friday, May 8th, 2015
• Old Church, 7pm to 11pm, ages 19+ $10 suggested donation at the door 

Cocktales with Maria is a sex-fuelled live-singing semi-operatic drag romp into the real lives of the modern West Coast gay. The result of a 4-year collaboration among Victoria composer Isaiah Bell, drag opera diva Maria Toilette, and concert pianist Karen Lee-Morlang, and growing out of a 2011 commission by Out on Screen / Vancouver Queer Film Festival, the word-for-word real-life sex stories of a group of Vancouver gay men are molded into a fun, serious, touching and shocking camp trash opera cabaret theatre piece.

In addition, Joel Klein and Karen Lee-Morlang will perform some pure live-singing drag entertainment. Unplugged steals the tunes right out of Streisand's mouth, mashes them with a vocal delivery worthy of Bea Arthur and every bit of slang-rhyming filth a drag audience could hope for. 

These performers will be artists-in-residence throughout the week of May 2nd in Smithers, refining their piece and outreaching to various community groups.

This show is for 19 years and older, and contains explicit language and mature subject matter. The show is being put on by the Bulkley Valley Concert Association and is a fundraiser for the Bulkley Valley Community Arts Council. Proceeds from donations and drinks will go toward supporting artists in the Bulkley Valley. 

#gayopera #drag #artbeat #joelklein #mariatoilette