Prince Poppycock

John Andrew Quale is an American singer, songwriter, and performer best known by the stage name and persona of Prince Poppycock. Quale, who specializes in musical theater and opera, describes Prince Poppycock on his website as a "roguish operatic dandy."

Poppycock came to national attention in 2010 when he competed on the fifth season of America's Got Talent. In his teenage years, Quale developed a love for writing music and became "enamored" with David Bowie, Depeche Mode, opera, madrigals, Gregorian chant, the Smiths and Gilbert and Sullivan. He also began recording his own music. Quale moved to Los Angeles around 2005 and studied musical theatre at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

Quale played the role of Jesus in the musical The Beastly Bombing, which won the LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Musical and enjoyed two short runs off-Broadway in New York City. and has opened for The Dresden Dolls,

Quale developed the Prince Poppycock character, an opera singer who performs in the elaborate dress of a baroque dandy, in 2006 so he could perform in a Los Angeles nightclub show. Quale was studying opera and had completed learning the Figaro baritone aria "Largo al factotum" from The Barber of Seville. A friend asked Quale to perform but stipulated he must wear a wig; he decided to perform as a "powdered-wigged baroque dandy, and highlight how the song was about being a fabulous hairdresser". The New York Post noted Poppycock embodies the sensibility of "humor, irony and sarcasm". He wears elaborate costuming and "dresses as if he stepped out of a French Baroque painting (pantaloons, powdered wig and pasty makeup)."

America's Got Talent In summer 2010, Quale auditioned and became one of the top four finalists on NBC's reality television talent show series America's Got Talent that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of US$1 million, and a show as the headliner on the Las Vegas Strip. The Tampa Tribune called him "one of the most unusual contestants in the show's history". They noted he has been called "a male Lady Gaga" and "the Adam Lambert of America's Got Talent, and that he "may be the most innovative act since Pee-wee Herman". Sung at the first entrance of the title character, the repeated "Figaro" notes before the final patter section are an icon in popular culture of operatic singing. Due to the fast tempo and tongue-twisting lines, the piece is often noted as one of the most difficult baritone arias to perform. In the pre-interview segment he noted the difficulty of the piece, as did the judges after the performance.

For the Las Vegas Week, Classical Singers performance (July 6) Quale's voice was compromised by illness but his overall performance of an abridged version of "La donna è mobile" ("Woman is fickle"), the cynical Duke of Mantua's canzone from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto (1851), helped him advance to the quarterfinals. The canzone is famous as a showcase for tenors. Quale could be seen struggling to hit the highest notes and was visibly upset that he could not be in better health.

For Week 4 of the quarterfinals (August 3) he performed "Vesti la giubba" ("Put on the costume"), a famous tenor aria from the opera Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, and first performed in 1892. The aria exemplifies the entire notion of the 'tragic clown': smiling on the outside but crying on the inside. Quale was costumed by Steve LaNasa as a clown with a tear after he took off a large wrapped costuming, the costume was later lit up from inside with several hundred color-changing LEDs.

For round 1 of the semifinals (August 24) Quale performed a modified version "Bohemian Rhapsody", a song by the British rock band Queen, written by Freddie Mercury for the album A Night at the Opera (1975). He performed "Nessun dorma" ("None shall sleep"), an aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot (1926). During the performance he was buzzed by judge Piers Morgan who said, "I think you've blown it. ... You were guilty, I'm afraid, of that terrible crime that many contestants do at this stage, of taking yourself a little bit too seriously. And the whole point of Prince Poppycock is that you're great fun. You're a great showman. You make me smile. And you didn't make me smile tonight!"

On the September 15, 2010, finale, Poppycock opened the show with a duet with one of his favorite celebrities, singer and disco superstar Donna Summer. That night, he finished in fourth place. A day after the finale of America's Got Talent Poppycock made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in a segment called "The Ross Report" (with Ross Mathews) which he mentioned and posted pictures of on his Twitter page. The top ten finalists performed in a 25-city tour of the US in October and November 2010. He returned to AGT as a guest artist in August 2011.

Performances EpisodeSong(s)Original artist/composerNew York City auditions (June 8) "Largo al factotum" ("Make way for the factotum"), an aria from The Barber of Seville (1816) Gioachino Rossini Las Vegas Week, Classical Singers (July 6) "La donna è mobile" ("Woman is fickle"), a canzone from Rigoletto (1851) Giuseppe Verdi Week 4 (August 3) "Vesti la giubba" ("Put on the costume"), an aria from Pagliacci (1892) Ruggero Leoncavallo Round 1 (August 24) "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975), by British rock band Queen Freddie Mercury Top 10 (September 7) Medley of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (1814), "The Yankee Doodle Boy" (1904), and "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" (1843) with an excerpt of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776) Francis Scott KeyGeorge M. CohanThomas á BecketThomas Jefferson Top 4 (September 14) "Nessun dorma" ("None shall sleep"), an aria from Turandot (1926)Buzzed by Piers Morgan Giacomo Puccini Finale (September 15) Medley of Donna Summer's Last Dance (1978) and No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (1979) Paul Jabara,Jabara and Bruce Roberts

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