Photo by: Simon Pauly
On the other side of the world, the handsome Reed Luplau started dancing when he first began walking. “I am from Perth, Australia. My mom is a dance teacher there. I was dancing when I started walking because that is all I really knew. I went to an Australian Ballet School. I then danced in Sydney and then moved to New York City five years ago.”
Luplau’s dancing has now brought him to Philadelphia, landing him a starring role in Opera Philadelphia’s East Coast premiere of Oscar, an opera about the life of Oscar Wilde. But wait, a contemporary ballerino with a starring role in an opera? You read right. Luplau never sings or speaks in the piece, but dances the important role of Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas, Oscar Wilde’s illustrious lover.
“I hated ballet when I was a young kid,” he told me over a Gibraltar in a comfortable corner at La Colombe in Rittenhouse. “I use to think it was very effeminate. It wasn’t until I was 15 when I saw the West Australian Ballet do a production of Coppelia. I asked myself, what is this? You can actually dance professionally? I got addicted to ballet after that point. I trained for years. It really is the basic foundation of dance and for any technique you want to do.”
Since moving to New York City, Luplau has worked with Lar Lubovitch Dance Company and Stephen Petronio Company. He got involved with Oscar after director Kevin Newbury saw him in the independent feature film, Five Dances. “At the time they knew they wanted a dancer for the role of Bosie but they needed a dancer with acting experience. Kevin saw me in the film and thought I should come in for the audition. I ended up booking it. We started in Santa Fe in the summer of 2013. But we didn’t know how far to push this. Where the line was. How far should we go?”
“Opera can have such a pretentious audience,” Luplau candidly told me. “It is very regal. But the story here is very dark and sinister. What Oscar went through is very visceral and human. In Santa Fe, we made it very ethereal and very fairy like to tell the story. Here in Philadelphia, we made it more real. See it for what it is and if people don’t like it, we are at least doing something. And if people love it, we are still doing something real.”
Oscar’s Philadelphia premiere has opened to mixed reviews like Luplau predicted. In a review titled “‘Oscar’ too often forgets its opera”, David Patrick Stearns of the Inquirer wrote, “The volatility of Wilde's relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas is sidestepped by having Douglas portrayed as a dream-like non-singing dancer.” However, Bill Chenevert from PhillyNow wrote, “The first half of the show is all about the way that Wilde’s relationship with the beautiful Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas (performed stunningly through dance by Reed Luplau) puts Wilde’s life in danger.”
Photo credit: Kelly & Massa.
Luplau dances the role of Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas or Bosie, an illustrious lover of Oscar Wilde’s whose affair with him began in 1891. “Bosie is a little brat. He comes from money. His dad was the Marquess of Queensberry. His Dad was strict and never let anything get in his way. Oscar was married with two kids at the time and having this affair with Bosie. It ended up being this love affair for six or seven years. Bosie’s father didn’t like that and took Oscar to court. It was Bosie’s influences on Oscar that brought him to that time of weakness. He was an important part of his fall.”
Bosie gets shirtless in scenes with Oscar, played by countertenor David Daniels that get hot and heavy for an opera. “First day of rehearsals was interesting. Bosie and Oscar had such an intimate connection. So first day of rehearsal we had to take that leap of getting to know each other. We kiss a few times on stage.”
Photo credit: Kelly & Massa.
I asked Luplau if Bosie is the antagonist of the piece. “Very much so,” he responded. “The reason why they made Bosie a dancer is a lot of the times I appear in Oscar’s mind because of timing. Bosie was gone and left for France by the time Oscar was sent to prison. They wanted this character to lurk in the shadows. I come in and out. For me, it is extremely fun and challenging. There is a sweet side to Bosie, too. But it is fun to play a little shit sometimes,” he laughs.
Luplau has a special affinity for Philadelphia. It is here where he fell in love with fellow dancer Anthony Bacconi in 2012. “We started dating when we were on tour here in Philadelphia. He had just joined the company. When you are rooming with someone, you spend time with them. Because I am not from this country I wanted to do all the historical sites like Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. We ended up spending a lot of time together, became good friends, and then started dating.”
Luplau is still writing his love story, and he believes that people will attend Oscar for the love story offered there. “Not just gay people. People in general should come and see that it is another kind of love story. A real one. I think they were in love and they wouldn’t have done what they did if they weren’t.”
Members of the LGBT community will have a special opportunity to attend the opera this Friday when they host an Out at the Opera evening in conjunction with the William Way Community Center. The William Way will host a wine and cheese mixer early Friday evening. Then, Opera Overtures at the Academy of Music will feature Michael Bolton, Opera Philadelphia’s Vice President of Community Programs chatting with Reggie Shuford, Executive Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. They'll discuss the powerful legal issues surrounding homosexuality in Oscar Wilde’s time versus today.
Does Luplau still think ballet is feminine? “If you are doing a classic ballet like Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake, the princes are so manly and need you to dance like a man,” he answers. “Those roles need that really prince like stature. I think ballet can be very masculine. Just look at the bodies.”
Oscar has three more performances this week before it closes. For a special discounted rate to Friday's Out at the Opera, use the promo code PRIDE. when purchasing tickets.