Divamensch

I went to Hearbeat Opera's annual Halloweenish drag extravaganza on Oct 29, 2026. Last year it was Orgy and Bess - - this year it was Queeney Todd: The Demon Bottom of Fleet Street. It was fun and well done but a bit of a disappointment. Last year's show was both of those things but also smart. This year it was mostly just raunchy, which doesn't sustain for 90 minutes, at least not for me. Nathaniel Sullivan was wonderful as Queeney, he was clearly having a very good time. I

I never like reporting on FOUR celebrity deaths! My brother Howard alerted me to three of them and my friend Jessica on the fourth: Barbara Barrie (95), Donnie Iris (83), and Patrick Stewart (86) from Howard and Elke Sommer (85) from Jessica. I first encountered Barbara Barrie playing Dennis Christopher's mom in Breaking Away. She was nominated for an Oscar for that movie. I later knew her from the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Company, in which she and her hu