Photograph by Gioncarlo Valentine for the New Yorker. September 24, 2021.
The cabaret star Justin Vivian Bond, left, and the operatic counter tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo performed from “Only an Octave Apart” with the New York Philharmonic at the Rose Theater. Chris Lee, The New York Times.
New York Times Critic’s Pick Review:
Philip Glass and the Bangles, Mashed at the Symphony
Anthony Roth Costanzo and Justin Vivian Bond brought their gleeful opera-cabaret show “Only an Octave Apart” to the New York Philharmonic.
“It was sublime.
By turns hilarious and tender — those dual Didos are very much not played for laughs — the show was a small miracle of careful craft and improvisatory looseness, of arch personae and moving sincerity. Costanzo was a superb, well, straight man to Bond’s battiness, and their voices — one slender and pure, the other husky and vibrato-heavy — improbably blended. The return to live performance after a year and a half of lockdowns only increased the poignancy and delight of their obvious mutual love and respect. It was a confection that nourished.”
— Zachary Woolfe | The New York Times | January 28, 2022
Photo: Nina Westervelt for Vogue Magazine. September 20, 2021.
Anthony Roth Costanzo and Justin Vivian Bond: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert.
Bond's theatrical streak reshapes itself on this collection: the songs form a parallel narrative to Joan Didion's novel Play It As It Lays, tapping into its themes of isolation and grim self-reliance through songs by tough storytellers like Mark Eitzel, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. Thomas "Doveman" Bartlett's piano arrangements support Bond's intense soliloquys.
— Ann Powers | NPR Music | June 15, 2012
Théâtre national de Chaillot, Paris, France, 15 février 2014.
Justin Vivian Bond ("Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway") prepared to perform "Silver Wells" at 54 Below, in celebration of the album of the same name. Here, Bond performed "Stars" and spoke to Playbill about some of the other songs in the concert, 2014.
“Patriot’s Heart” from the album “Silver Wells” at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, 2012.
Tim Murphy:
You have a new CD out in March called “Justin Vivian Bond: Dendrophile.” Explain.
Vivian:
A dendrophile’s a person who gets an erotic charge out of nature. I am one! This is a record for the tree-hugger community. I do Bambi Lake’s “The Golden Age of Hustlers” on it, and also a duet of the Carpenters’ “Superstar” with Beth Orton. As for Vivian, that’s my self-given middle name. Justin is a very male-identified name, and I wanted something that would balance it. I had an uncle named Vivian Francis. He was a wonderful person, but he changed his name to Victor. He didn’t like being Vivian. But it’s fine with me.
— New York Times, December 7, 2010
“Golden Age of Hustlers” from the album “Dendrophile”. Performer: Justin Vivian Bond Song by: Bambi Lake Co-Directors: Silas Howard & Erin Greenwell Producer: Ethan Weinstock Cinematographer: PJ raval Editor: Janis Vogel "The Golden Age of Hustlers" captures the 1970's gay hustler scenes of pre-HIV/AIDS era on Polk St in San Francisco from an insider's experience. 2014.
Justin Vivian Bond, with Nath-Ann Carrera on guitar, performs the song "The New Economy" from the album “Dendrophile” from a Lower East Side rooftop, 2011.
I'm thrilled to be debuting the first video for Dendrophile. Its called American Wedding and the lyrics are by Essex Hemphill. It's the first song on the recording and I consider it to be an invocation.“American Wedding from the album “Dendrophile”. 2011.
