‘Forever Yours, Lincoln’ isn’t just for opera buffs

washingtonblade.com:

‘Yours Forever, Lincoln’October 21 – 29Quarry Theatre@ The Voxel 9 W. 25th St.Baltimore, MD 21218$15-$30Quarrtytheatre.com Casting nonbinary actor Gabriel Hernandez as the young Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of chamber opera “Forever Yours, Lincoln,” at Quarry Theatre in Baltimore, was a smart move.

At about six feet tall with a mop of dark hair, Hernandez isn’t quite as tall as Lincoln, but the Puerto Rican-American tenor has worked hard to bring to life the revered, lanky president.  “I never thought about looking like Lincoln until the process of playing him began,” says Hernandez, 32. “When I got the offer, I began looking at pics of him and wondering how I could embody him better.

I discovered that how you move your face makes a difference when playing a historical figure. And somehow, it seems to have worked.”  An exploration of the president’s intimate male relationships, the work opens a conversation about what constitutes intimacy, romance, and friendship.

With music by Baltimore composer Patrick Alexander and book by Alexander and co-librettist Laura Holland, the 50-minute fully produced piece incorporates a compilation of original text, historical first-person accounts, letters and poetry by Lincoln, and poetry by Walt Whitman and Lord Byron.