A TROJAN SOLDIER

(The Metropolitan Opera broadcast a few weeks ago was of Mozart’s opera seria “Idomeneo”, for which one of the minor solo roles is identified as “A Trojan Soldier” – which triggered this memory of another performance at another opera house, from a few seasons past The telling of the tale here is not 100% true, but very nearly so…)

(…for Kay Derwydd)

We were doing Puccini’s “Tosca”, and I was playing The Sacristan – a minor role, but necessary, and kinda fun – not too taxing either physically or vocally, so it’s an easy paycheck. A major part of the show is the well-known “Te Deum” scene, which closes Act I. To start the scene off, the Sacristan comes onstage leading a group of schoolboy/Acolytes and villagers to rehearse the music for a special church service – hence the singing of the “Te Deum”. The schoolboy/Acolytes are supposed to be frisky, and the Sacristan has some trouble keeping control of them. We didn’t have a children’s chorus with the company, so we just took about six of the youngest-looking of the regular chorus guys (and a couple of girls) and dressed them as Acolytes and claimed they were schoolboys. We had a lot of young-looking singers in the chorus, because the company had gone through some management turmoil the previous season and many of the older warhorses of the chorus had left. I had sung with the company for about five years, so because of my level of professional experience they were desperate to keep me on, but my price for staying around was to be cast in solo roles whenever possible, not just in the chorus anymore. They (eventually) agreed to that, and I was also made Assistant Chorusmaster. We had recruited heavily from all three of the major collegiate music schools in our city, and some of the more advanced high schools as well.

Brian was one of my recruits, and a real prize. He had everything – good-looking, well-built, good moves onstage, and a powerful, ringing baritone voice that, with a few years’ training, might just develop into something (think Valentin in “Faust”, “Billy Budd” in the Britten, Escamillo in “Carmen”, etc.). He had gone to college on a baseball scholarship, but then got involved in the college Glee Club, and found out (as he told me later) two very important things: first, he really loved singing, and later acting; and second - show dressing rooms were as fertile a cruising grounds for hot male bodies as were gym locker rooms. He had graduated last spring with a double major in Phys Ed and Music Ed, and was licensed to teach both, and was in his first year of teaching at one of the more prestigious local high schools. He was also extremely aware of the consequences for a first-year teacher of being caught in a homosexual affair, so he kept enough (extremely willing) girls around to cover his other proclivities, which were approached very quietly and discreetly.

Brian is a six-footer, with big, broad, powerful shoulders tapering down past a deep, barrel chest to a narrow, shapely waist, flaring out to a perfect bubble butt perched atop strong, muscular legs. Add to that package wavy golden hair and bright green eyes, and a friendly, cheerful personality (with an off-the-wall sense of humor), and then finish it off with a genuine sense of humility and a down-to-earth, “aw-shucks” attitude about himself and his successes, and you have one of the most desirable guys I’ve