It is a quiet September afternoon in Sydney when I connect with Mama Alto on Zoom. On the other end of the call, it’s evening time in New York City, where the jazz singer, cabaret artist and self-described “gender transcendent diva” is still on a high from the first full, unbroken rehearsal of Bark of Millions. The invigorating new work features 55 original songs – one to mark each year since the landmark Stonewall uprising – brought to life by an international ensemble of 22 artists over a four-hour-long performance. The music roams between genres – drawing on American rock, jazz, folk, and blues – and plays off high drag and high-impact costuming.
“Bark of Millions, it is cabaret, it is opera, it is a cabaret rock opera. But maybe not in the sense that people are familiar with those words,” says Mama Alto, as she elegantly searches for a way to articulate this exciting undertaking. The warmth that the Melbourne-based artist brings to stages across the world is just as palpable during our casual digital conversation.
Photograph: Supplied/Teddy Wolff | Taylor Mac performs in 'A 24-Decade History of Popular Music'
“The subtitle of the work is A Queer Parade Trans Extravaganza. And, you know, Taylor Mac, who has created the work, the concept and the lyrics, is an absolute genius [a literal MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and a Pulitzer Prize finalist] …and Matt Ray, who wrote and composed the music to go with those lyrics. The two, the incredible pair, is the key component.”
A world premiere, Bark of Millions is coming to the Sydney Opera House for one-night-only on Friday, October 20, as part of the cultural monument’s month-long 50th Anniversary Festival. Sitting in a concert for four hours might sound inconceivable to you, but endurance-style performances are Mac and Ray’s bread and butter. Incorporating a queer history of the USA, Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music was a sensational marathon immersive theatrical experience that actually runs for 24 hours (over consecutive days) which was performed around the world. People who have attended it speak about it with the reverence of a beyond-fabulous, even spiritual, experience. Mama Alto was part of the Melbourne Festival season, which is where she met the intimable duo.
It's not a marathon – it's a hangout, it's a cuddle puddle, it's a party!
“I had for a long time admired Taylor Mac's work,” says Alto. “Because Judy – which is the pronouns that Taylor uses – Judy is a queer genius, and someone whose work asks a lot of questions in a very non-judgmental way… there’s not just one narrative embedded in the work… it offers gifts, you can take or leave what resonates. But also Taylor's work is focused in that queer experience, focused in what it feels like to be an outsider. Then taking that to its biggest, shiniest, glittery, strangest excess and celebrating!”
“Bark of Millions poses the question: What would it be to consider queerness if our queerness throughout history hadn't been erased or hidden from us? Where is our mythology as queer people? Where is our history as queer people? Where are our ancestors as queer people? The answer is actually, we've always been here, and we always will be.”
Alto continues: “There are these attempts to erase or hide us, or remove that part of someone's biography. If they're making a film about someone, to play down their queerness – whether that's being gay, bi, trans, or asexual. This work reclaims their queerness in a kind of spiritual way, through this ritual performance [with] the most extraordinary poetry and music, rediscovering that history and mythology of our own.”
Photograph: SOH/Amy Touchette | Taylor Mac in the workroom
If you’ve been low-key mourning for the kind of fun, affirming and radically queer LGBTQIA+ events that Sydney WorldPride opened the door for, you won’t want to miss Bark of Millions. This collaborative work promises to take you to church (well, gay church) via the Sydney Opera House’s acoustically superior Concert Hall (which just recently had a multi-million-dollar makeover).
Are you already planning your sparkliest outfit, or are you still hesitant about that unusually long runtime? Well, while there isn’t a traditional interval, Mama Alto’s description of the Bark of Millions vibe might just sway you:
“Early on, there's a line in one of the songs – “your care is up to you, please pause depending on your bladder and your state” – and the fact that that's explicitly written into the show, to me, it's just so beautiful… If you need to take a little break, if you need to have some time out, if you need to just breathe, to decompress, if you need to go outside and cry – or if you want to, stay inside and cry – and then come back when you're ready. That's actually still quite a radical idea in any space, let alone an artistic one.”
Photograph: Supplied/Trent Pace | Mama Alto
“Taylor and Matt like to say, “the show will take care of you, and the show will take care of itself”. It's been written in a way that rides that ebb and flow of energy, adrenaline and emotion… It's not a marathon – it's a hangout, it's a cuddle puddle, it's a party!”
Say no more! Shut up and take my pink money!
Bark of Millions comes to the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House for one-night-only from 7pm on Friday, October 20, 2023. General tickets range from $79-$224 (group bookings and Mob Tix also available) and you can snap yours up over here.