After making a name for himself in the country-music world with his dramatic masks, Orville Peck will be (mostIy) barefaced in his Broadway debut — eye shadow notwithstanding. “I’m here to play this role and to bring respect and integrity and hopefully a good performance to it,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s not about me.” Credit…Thea Traff for The New York Times. [New York Times caption and illustration]
The Lone Ranger rides again! That was my first take on the photo. Then it stirred my childish you-haven’t-earned-your-Stetson attitude. I was sure the article would nudge me toward curdled cowboy hat bête noire-ism. But wait:
As he cavorted across the makeshift stage, Mr. Peck flexed his muscles, narrowed his eyes and sang in a booming baritone — he looked rascally, menacing, in heat. But then he extended a leg, lifted his opposite heel and, lickety-split, stuck out his buns. The butch-femme push-pull that defines his country persona was there, even if his mask was not.
When I finished the article, I was grinning pleasantly. Sometimes it’s best to resist an attitude. (Who knew?) Art, with a hefty pinch of cheek and dash, can do wonders for a tired stereotype. You go, masked dude!
“The irony is that if I put my mask on, I’m suddenly not anonymous anymore… I just take my mask off and walk around like normal and then no one knows who I am.”
(Orville Peck)
(Erik Piepenburg, “Orville Peck Confirms He Will Perform Unmasked in ‘Cabaret’ [Orville Peck Takes His Face Out for a Spin].” New York Times, 3-17-25)
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