Interview: Creatine Price Spills About CANTATA: BLOOD MAGIC at Red Eye NY

A bewitching spectacle is brewing in Hell’s Kitchen, just in time for spooky season. On October 19, tenor Jordan Weatherston Pitts will transform into his alter ego, Creatine Price, for “Cantata: Blood Magic” at Red Eye NY, promising an afternoon of high notes and even higher heels.

With a powerful, soaring tenor that has graced stages from New York City Opera to the Hawaii Opera Theatre, Pitts has concocted a potion of classical virtuosity and queer fabulousness to prove that the drama and passion of opera are as at home in a cocktail bar as they are on the grand stage.

In an era where entertainment often comes pre-packaged and auto-tuned, Pitts and his fellow performers (Anthime Miller, Cunning Stunt, Donatella Fermata, Krystofer Maison, and Zalman Kelber) offer something raw, immediate, and thrillingly alive. BroadwayWorld sat down with Pitts to learn more about his journey, the birth of Cantata, and this alchemy of opera and drag.

How did you find your passion for opera?

When I was 5 or 6, I memorized all of The Wizard of Oz and put on shows for my mom, playing all the characters. I was in an English-style boys’ choir from ages 8 to 12, which exposed me to all this great classical music, and took us to London. But the real turning point came when I saw my first opera as a sophomore in high school. It was a production of Carmen at SUNY Fredonia, where I ended up going to college. It had everything I was good at in one package: the French language, the vocals, the dramatic performance … I was obsessed. This experience led me to pursue music in college, setting me on the path to a career in opera.

How did you get involved in drag, and what inspired you to combine it with opera?

I was a go-go dancer in New York City for many years, trying to make ends meet, so I was around drag queens all the time. In January 2019, New York City Opera was casting a tenor that could do drag for Stonewall. Everybody sent it to me, and I was like, “Why? I don’t even do drag.” But I wore heels to the audition, and got the part. That was when my friend from Fredonia, The Countess Mascara, became my drag mother. She gave me a crash course in everything, and helped me get ready to go up there and look good, not just sound good.

Who is Creatine Price, and how would you describe your drag persona to someone unfamiliar with your work?

Creatine Price is an amalgamation of all my respect for women in opera, the drama of the art form, and the level of artistry that I try to achieve. Back when I was in college, YouTube was just beginning to be a thing. I’d watch videos of Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Shirley Verrett, and all these other sopranos that had huge roles and careers. They became my inspiration for singing opera. But Creatine’s image is always evolving, because I constantly take my grand ideas into the real world, and realize they’re sometimes a bit too expensive to materialize at the moment. 

How did you create your residency Cantata at Red Eye?

I was mostly lip-synching under another drag persona, Petty Yende, after my debut at the New York City Opera. It felt awful when I lost my Instagram account to an Internet debacle with the soprano Pretty Yende, who thought I was an impostor. I wanted to quit, but then decided to do what I’d always wanted, which was opera in drag. A cocktail bar in the East Village called HiLot reached out, and I did about 10 shows in their intimate, beautiful space. Over that year, I had the full creative license to sing a wide repertoire, from Musetta to Turandot. Sam Benedict from Red Eye NY saw what I posted on social media, and invited me to pitch a show. I happened to need a new home for what I was doing, and a residency at Red Eye is a really big deal because it’s a sought-after venue with artist-friendly policies and excellent tech setup. We sold out the first show.

What are some behind-the-scenes responsibilities you handle for Cantata that audiences might not be aware of?

I produce, cast, and direct the show. I advise everybody on repertoire, and schedule rehearsals, including the tech rehearsal. I prepare the projections, including subtitles, and do all the audio and video editing myself. I make most of my costumes and hair. Then on top of that, I handle all the administrative stuff, from tips and payouts to the bar tabs.

How do you learn and perform challenging female opera roles as a tenor?

I take it to my teacher, and practice it the same way I practice any of my repertoire. My goal is to emulate the femininity that I see in these roles, and build up the drag element so it’s my own interpretation of them. I’m not going to lie — it’s hard, and a lot of pressure to put into a drag environment. But there are roles like Lucia and Adriana that work really well for me as a tenor, especially in verismo [a movement in opera that roughly translates to “realism”]. This experience has made me much more confident singing traditional tenor roles like Don José and Cavaradossi, because the framework is the same: the heightened drama, the vocalism … And it just helps me practice certain difficult things outside of my repertoire.

Has your voice teacher supported your creative endeavors?

I’ve been studying with Michael Chioldi since 2018. He’s sung Rigoletto at the Met Opera, and is an incredible artist that’s been very supportive of me as an individual. Michael not only helped me with my tenor repertoire, but also freed me from the constant cult-like idea that you have to build yourself up from zero every single time you come into the studio. He lets me sing through repertoire, and gives me very practical advice like, “Your voice works in this way. Here’s what I hear, and here’s what I’d like to hear.” He’s also very openly gay, and when he saw that I was going on TV to sing opera in drag, it may have clicked for him that this is a real thing for me. I want to sing this stuff with an orchestra someday… In an enormous gown.

And which aria would you sing in that scenario?

Likely the “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde, or “Io son l’umile ancella” from Adriana Lecouvreur — something very big and dramatic.

If you were to create an original opera character inspired by your drag persona, what would they be like?

They’d be some kind of fatal heroine, like Tosca. I’d have a mad scene, some kind of psychological break, and then I would come in and save the day. I would be the grande dame, the diva. It would be a character that combines all the dramatic elements I love in opera with the larger-than-life aspect of drag. I think it would be amazing to have a character that goes through this intense emotional journey but ends up triumphant instead of tragic.

What’s your perspective on the prevalence of “mad scenes” for female characters in opera?

I love it because it’s camp — an artifice. It’s not grounded in the reality of who women are, but it’s indicative of culture, time, and setting. We’re suspending disbelief in opera, which is able to take those organic emotions that we feel and heighten them. I think we all have a sense of madness in us. The drag element of it takes the ridiculousness of that situation and plays up the femininity and queerness of it, producing a spectacle that everybody’s watching.

What’s a misconception about opera that you wish more people understood?

I think people don’t realize the subject matter of a lot of opera is just the same as reality TV. For example, Così fan tutte is about these women trying to outsmart their husbands. It’s the same vapid kind of thing as 90 Day Fiancé. People talk about how we need new works, and I’m like, “We just need to rephrase how these stories are presented.” It’s just sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s all about who wants to sleep with who, who’s getting mad over the dumbest things …

How do you strike a balance between humor and seriousness in your performances?

It’s part of what I like to call old-school drag, or the art of cabaret. It’s a skill set that I think a lot of drag queens are missing. There are very talented performers that put together a cabaret of just songs that they sing well, but actually developing what has a personal element to me, why I’m showing you this, and bringing you into the space rather than just performing … That’s different. And there’s no way to teach someone how to do that. You have to either observe it in other people, which I did for many years, or you feel it organically.

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Tickets to see Jordan Weatherston Pitts and Co. at Red Eye NY on October 19 are available on Red Eye NY’s website here.

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