Michael
Hanko
A Singing Soldier
"Platoon Lieder"
by Denny Meyer |
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This is the story of how a gay Army
brat grew up to become a reluctant lieutenant, an
operatic baritone, and the creator of his brilliant
performances of "Platoon Lieder;" based on the esoteric
art form of Deutsche Lieder, German poetry songs derived
from romantic mythology and folk stories. Hanko has taken the original lyrical lieder piano
accompaniments of classical composers and created new
English song lyrics telling the story of his travails
through life in the Army as a gay man, all done in the
style, tone, mood, and cadence of the original German
songs.
Simply put, this is all about a gay
guy's service as a US Army officer; which, as a veteran,
he is telling about in an arched-eyebrow highbrow song
cycle with a lot of tongue-in-cheek gay gesticulation
and humor.
Michael Hanko had a typical 'military
family' childhood. His father was a career
officer. They moved more than twenty times during
his childhood, from assignment to assignment all over
the world. While the rest of America was beginning
to enter the era of awareness and acceptance of gay
folk, the armed forces family environment and school
system was an insular moveable world of on-base housing
and education where we did not exist in thought or word.
Survival meant suppressing any conscious awareness of
alternate sexual identity from an early age, and being
immersed in close family ties. And so it was not
until early adulthood, as a student in Princeton's ROTC
program in 1982, that he came to know who he really was.
By that time he was committed and trapped in an eight
year program of military scholarship education followed
by the payback of service.
On the plus side, he notes that both
his military childhood and service was in an always
fully racially integrated environment of equality
established long before civilian society caught up to
that ideal. That at least gives him hope that our
now emerging right to serve in pride will also evolve
into leading the way to full equality.
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As he sings that story with a
lot of pathos over the anguished horror of his
situation; in fact he went through it with
courage rather than quitting. Right away,
he told his parents the truth. His mother,
pragmatic as mothers can be, wept with joy, in
fact, sighing and saying, "Thank God, that
explains a lot." While typically put off
at first, his father, a Vietnam vet, did his
best with military pragmatism to tell him that
he had to keep quiet about it, for both their
sakes, and just get through it. While that
may seem cruel in retrospect; he did what his
dad told him and it led to his subsequent
experiences serving in Germany where he met his
mate who recognized his singing ability which
led to his becoming an accomplished classical
baritone, and the rest of his creative life,
none of which would have happened had he quit
ROTC and college. Whew, it's a long story.
Years later, his parents have attended his show
with enthusiastic applause and pride in their
accomplished son. |
These things do not happen by
accident. He'd had piano lessons since the age of
five and sang in choirs from an early age; and his
mother had been an accomplished singer. So, one
might blame his parent's choices if one were to believe
what makes a homosexual, but of course that's not the
way it works.
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The song cycle's story begins at
Princeton at the moment when he realizes to his horror
that he does not belong in the homophobic hostile
military environment which is also anti-intellectual and
contemptuous of non-manly skills such as singing and
musical ability, all of which was what he was all about.
Oh Fie! Well, as noted, he squared his jaw, as
best he could, and suddenly learned to love his uniform
which he began to appreciate as a gay fashionista.
(His performance includes some clever quick change
transitions where he wears a tight fitting olive drab
tee shirt and later an olive drab tank top with a large
rhinestone pink triangle).
Anyway, he graduates, is
commissioned, and goes through the hideous muddy sweaty
boot camp experience complete with a purse-lipped
soliloquy lamenting shower room libido repression. |
After several ghastly
assignments, he finds himself the Community
Adjutant for the Norddeutschland Military
Community, assisting the Community Commander
coordinating personnel and ops for multiple
divisions. The tragic theme of his
presentation aside, he actually thrived in
this administrative position preparing
orders, correspondence, duty rosters,
meeting minutes, newsletters, and training
troops in military correspondence.
Having had a career as an administrative Sgt
First Class, I personally can appreciate the
heroism of that job. |
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The real story, however, takes place
in his off duty time in Germany where he meets a
civilian military employee who becomes both his lover
and patron as he studies classical singing and begins
to perform his art. That meant everything in that
it was what kept him going through the trauma of his
commitment to military service, as well as what led to
his artistic life that followed.
Even if his story may lack the
gung-ho patriotism that my kind of military gay hero
thrives on, the moments of sheer classical virtuosity
combined with his brilliant gay military humor make
Michael Hanko's true tale told in song a genuine
pleasure for almost anyone, except maybe disgruntled
grunting old straight vets.
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As a classical arts review, this
article would not be complete without
mentioning the brilliance of Hanko's piano
accompanist Byron Sean. Hailing from
the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Sean accomplished
the completion of his musical training via a
scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in
London, as well as at the Ecole Normale de
Musique in Paris. His Carnegie Hall
debut was in 2012; he has worked with
Michael Hanko for seven years. |
For details and
performance scheduling, please visit Michal Hanko's
website:
platoonlieder.com
© 2013 Gay Military Signal |
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