From the Met to the Hairport: Stephanie Blythe brings Blythely Oratonio back to Philadelphia for one night only

Opera superstar returns to her outrageous tenor alter ego at Bearded Ladies Cabaret’s Priority Hoarding on Saturday, Dec. 5

She’s currently on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera’s historic world premiere of Lincoln in the Bardo, but soon, internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe will trade the Met for the Hairport.

On Saturday, December 5, Blythe returns to Philadelphia as her larger-than-life alter ego for Blythely Oratonio: I Am My Own Daddy, a one-night-only cabaret performance at the Bearded Ladies Cabaret’s Hairport, the immersive home of Priority Hoarding: A Retrospectacle, celebrating 16 years of the Bearded Ladies’ gloriously unruly performance history.

Blythely Oratonio is Blythe’s outrageous, bearded, testosterone-fueled dramatic tenor persona—part opera star, part rock god, part Philadelphia nightlife legend. Created in collaboration with Bearded Ladies co-founder Rose Jarboe, Blythely first emerged in Philadelphia alongside legendary drag icon Martha Graham Cracker, the beloved persona of theater artist and performer Dito van Reigersberg. Dito passed away in June 2026 at age 53, leaving an indelible mark on Philadelphia’s theater, cabaret, and queer performance communities. The Hairport, with its collection of costumes, props, videos, music and ephemera spanning 16 years of Bearded Ladies history, is dedicated to Martha and to the artists who made Philadelphia’s performance scene so singular.

This December, Blythely returns to the city where it all began for a performance that will celebrate that history—and honor the extraordinary artist who helped make it possible. Joining Blythely is Sapphira Cristál, runner-up and Miss Congeniality of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16 and a classically trained opera singer, composer, and drag queen known for her theatrical lip syncs and six-octave range.

“Blythely Oratonio is one of those characters who could only have been born in Philadelphia,” says Stephanie Blythe. “He was born out of friendship, mischief, opera, drag, and the absolute joy of performing with Martha. Coming back to Philadelphia as Blythely now, in the Hairport, feels like coming home—and like opening the door for Martha to join us again.”

“Daddy is coming home. I’m so excited to bring Blythely back into a Bearded Ladies’s space along with the legendary Sapphira Cristál. The Hairport is going to soar that night,” said director Rose Jarboe.

Blythe first conceived Blythely with the Bearded Ladies after encountering Dito van Reigersberg and the Martha Graham Cracker persona in Philadelphia. In an oral history with Opera America, Blythe recalled dreaming of performing with Martha and ultimately making that dream a reality; the two became an unforgettable pairing of operatic grandeur and downtown cabaret irreverence. Their collaborations included the genre-bending Dito & Aeneas: Two Queens, One Night in February 2017 and its sequel, Queens of the Night, a three-night Opera Philadelphia cabaret takeover in 2018. Blythely subsequently took on a life of his own, appearing at Lincoln Center and Boston Lyric Opera in Blythely Ever After, a musical journey through the tenor’s imaginary life that mixed opera, rock, pop, disco, and plenty of facial hair.



The December 5 appearance comes just weeks after Blythe’s performances as Mrs. Baron in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Lincoln in the Bardo at the Metropolitan Opera. From one of the world’s grandest opera houses to one of Philadelphia’s most gloriously unconventional performance spaces, Blythe’s return as Blythely offers a fitting homecoming for an artist who has spent her career gleefully blurring the boundaries between opera, theater, drag, and cabaret.

Blythely Oratonio: I Am My Own Daddy takes place Saturday, December 5 at 8 p.m. at the Hairport, located at 444 N. 3rd Street in Philadelphia.