
Rufus Wainwright’s performance at The Egg on Thursday evening was completely over the top, outrageously self-indulgent and utterly glorious.
The evening began with an opening announcement that flipped traditional concert etiquette on its head – please take photos and videos of the performance and please don’t applaud until after Rufus has left the stage.
Wearing white face make-up with smudges of baby-blue color beneath both eyes, Wainwright made quite an entrance – walking across the stage in a black, floor-length gown with a large, tall fur and feathers collar and a train that trailed behind him for nearly the entire width of the stage. He settled in at the grand piano, and he he began playing the opening “Who Are You New York?,” Douglas Gordon’s slow motion film of an eye smudged with black make-up was projected on the large movie screen behind him. The eye opened and closed in slow motion. Then there were two eyes. Then more.

“I was really into Al Jolson when I was a little kid. And the Everly Brothers. And then I got into opera when I was really young – probably about 14 years old.














