The Bearded Ladies extend their proverbial 15 minutes of fame this week with the opening of their cabaret residency of ANDY: A POPERA in the lobby of the Wilma Theater, the second phase in the show’s development (the first was a series of pop-up performances around town). Inspired by Pop icon Andy Warhol, the original hour-long ensemble-devised show, in collaboration with Opera Philadelphia, will culminate in a full-chorus opera in a found space in 2015.
I caught up with director and co-lead writer John Jarboe, founder and artistic director of the Beards, for a Warholian-style pop-quiz interview about Andy.
1. When did you first hear of Andy Warhol?
John Jarboe: My ex-boyfriend was reading his diaries, around six years ago—though I probably knew him before that.
2. What about Andy inspired you?
JJ: How deliciously mundane his writing is, and I thought it would be a wonderful text to have someone sing.
3. What did you learn from him?
JJ: That he’s still alive.
4. What’s your favorite Warhol work?
JJ: The huge Technicolor Skulls; I call them “celebrity skulls.”
5. What’s your favorite Warhol quote?
JJ: “Wow.”
6. What’s your favorite story about him?
JJ: He was looking at someone’s shoes . . . Well, wait, let me find a different one; that one’s a little raunchy!
7. Who’s your favorite Superstar?
JJ: Candy Darling.
8. What would you like your audiences to know about Andy?
JJ: There’s a difference between Andy the man and Andy the phenomenon. The Beards are focusing on Andy the phenomenon—Andy now, not then.
9. What would you like to know about Andy?
JJ: What he would do today.
10. What would you say to Andy if you could speak to him?
JJ: “Wow.” And I would show him Facebook immediately!
11. What makes him so fascinating?
JJ: The tension between what’s on the outside and what may or may not be on the inside.
12. What is the allure of the Factory?
JJ: They were very young, very queer, and unabashedly themselves—or what they wanted to be, which is not always the same thing at all.
13. What is it about silver?
JJ: Silver is everything; it’s reflective.
14. What’s Andy’s most important legacy?
JJ: Repetition.
14. What’s Andy’s most important legacy?
JJ: Repetition.
14. What’s Andy’s most important legacy?
JJ: Repetition.
15. What do you think the next 15 minutes in the afterlife of Andy Warhol will bring?
JJ: More of it. We’re already in the next 15 minutes.
Oh wow, John, that’s fabulous; you’re so beautiful–thanks! [The Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St.] July 16-27, 2014, http://beardedladiescabaret.com/shows/andy-a-popera/.