Stephanie Blythe and Brenda Rae in Queens of the Night at Festival O18. (Photo by Dominic M. Mercier)

“Fricka is on fucking vacation.”

So Stephanie Blythe announced early into Queens of the Night Part I, responding to the shout-out of an adoring fan. Blythe said it with a twinkle but also a sense of point, and it would prove to be a significant factor for the next 95 minutes or so.

First, though, a word about the event, which is conceived as a three-installment arc, pairing the great mezzo-soprano with Dito van Riegersberg, a Philly icon who performs in a variety of personae but is best known as his drag alter-ego, Martha Graham Cracker…

Read the entire review at Parterre Box