“Bernstein’s Trouble in Houston” was how one headline put it after the 1983 premiere at the Houston Grand Opera of “A Quiet Place,” the dark, family drama that was conceived as a sequel to his effervescent 1952 one-act “Trouble in Tahiti.”  When George Steel announced a revival for his second season as general and artistic director of the New York City Opera, eyebrows were raised at the wisdom of such a choice.

But Bernstein and his librettist Stephen Wadsworth reworked the piece significantly prior to rather successful re-stagings in the mid-80s at La Scala and the Kennedy Center, two institutions that also commissioned it.  Rather then a juxtaposition of two operas, they were combined into a three-act evening, with scenes from “Trouble in Tahiti” serving as flash backs during the second act.  Steel has a history with the piece, having served as an assistant to Bernstein during the Kennedy Center run.  I saw that production as well and recall being deeply affected by its depiction of an American family struggling with alcoholism and alienation.

More than 25 years later, it spoke to me again, but this time not just from a sense of emotional identification. The long opening scene takes place in a funeral parlor, as relatives and friends gather to remember Dinah, the mother of the family, whose casket sits center stage. Maybe time has caught up with the piece because the dour circumstances, psychological back story and macabre humor brought to mind the hit cable TV series “Six Feet Under.”

The City Opera production was convincing and secure on every level.  Conductor Jayce Ogren’s orchestra had well in hand Bernstein’s angst-ridden fragments, scatting tunes and haunting interludes.  But it was director Christopher Alden who made the long evening feel seamless, no longer a patchwork of styles and eras.

His biggest conceit was to have the jazz trio that narrates and comments in “Trouble in Tahiti” performed by the two adult children, Junior and Dede, and their shared lover Francois (it’s a long story). Where past productions had the trio in slick ‘50s outfits crooning in front of old fashioned microphones, Alden has them slouching on the living room couch. Like ghosts from the future, they watch their young parents set in motion the family history. Speaking of ghosts, Alden also has the deceased Dinah wandering around the funeral parlor at her own wake, quietly observing and occasionally trying to intervene when the strained family grows violent.

As the cigarette smoking Dinah, mezzo-soprano Patricia Risley’s best moment comes in the famous dream aria, “I Was Standing in a Garden” though she’s also dead-on with dry retorts to her cheating husband. Baritone Louis Otey as Sam, the father, has to sit around and look pained a lot, but his eventual reach for emotional connection in the third act rang true. The trickiest role is probably Junior, a gay, Vietnam-draft dodger, with a history of mental illness and sexual abuse.  Baritone Joshua Hopkins was convincing, even in the weird burlesque bit in front of his mom’s coffin, and his handsome voice carries the long aria that ends the night.

It’s not likely that this production will infuse the opera world with a new affection for “A Quiet Place.” But the piece should rank high in the age-less search for a great American opera. Like Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” it’s a noble and masterful take on normal, humdrum lives.

When she walked on stage of the Swyer Theatre in The Egg on Saturday night in Albany, she got down on her knees to discuss — and demonstrate — the difficulty of maintaining proper ergonomics when pleasing a man.  Intimate acts and private body parts continued to be the overarching theme of the night.  For an anatomy lesson a loose and drooping microphone cord became a prop. It was often hysterical, especially when her malleable face punctuated the one-liners.

For the capacity crowd of devoted fans, none of it could have been shocking or unexpected. Cho built her reputation on being blatant, but her single-mindedness felt new.  She’s been married since 2003 and in a recent interview said that it was an exclusive relationship. So one wonders if all that talk of messing around with men and women alike was distant memories, pure imagination or wishful thinking.

Cho’s routine only briefly touched on some other familiar themes — such as her Korean ethnicity and her clueless but loveable mother — that have given her acts more heft and poignancy in the past.  She did speak of being mistaken for other semi-famous Asian women. Her response: “No I’m the one from Grey’s Anatomy.”

Actually, she’s the one from “Drop Dead Diva,” currently running on Lifetime.  Explaining how each episode lately has a female guest star popular with gays, she boosted, “We’re the Gay Pride Edition of the Love Boat.”

Cho’s newest material is original songs, mostly ballads with sweet tunes and raunchy lyrics.  Her singing voice is unexpectedly soft, even lovely. As for the guitar playing, it’s rudimentary strumming, but as she said, if Madonna can do it, how hard can it be?

Two opening acts were surprisingly good. Ian Harvey wasted no time in coming out as a female to male transsexual who likes girls and told of learning to deal with passes from gay men.  Aided by an array of wigs, John Roberts gave a rapid-fire series of impersonations of familiar but annoying archetypes from contemporary life — the vegan lesbian, the gay pride mom, the coked-up comedian.

Harvey and Roberts joined Cho for some final songs, including a tender dialogue between a dog and his owner.  And Cho finally gave one of her best bits, impersonating her mom and for the first time with a wig and granny glasses.

“If Richard Pryor had a period, he’d talk about,” she once declared.

Given her success, Cho’s certainly never had a reason to shut up — until now.  But it’s doctor’s orders.

During late summer the 40-year-old performer was diagnosed with nodes on her vocal chords and commanded to speak only when necessary, which means save it for performances.

In an interview conducted via email, Cho explained that her vocal strain was the result of a number of factors, including stress and performing while sick. But the duties of her vocal chords — and her mouth — have expanded beyond just trash talk.

Margaret Cho is now a singer.

“I didn’t start singing until I went on tour with Cyndi Lauper who taught me a lot,” wrote Cho, referring to the “True Colors” concerts in summer 2007.  “I also picked up a lot of lessons along the way from different people and my mother is a singer. So it is in the family.”

She’s also picked up the electric guitar — a nice compliment to the colorful tattoos or her biceps. “I have been playing for a little while but am still learning,” she wrote. “It’s like a giant necklace.”

Cho’s current act is an evolving mix of spoken word and music with a risque atmosphere that resembles burlesque.  As for the songs, they’re all original and are being tried out in advance of cutting an album early next year, with the working titled “Guitarded.”

“The song lyrics are all jokes, but the music is very serious,” Cho said.  (She included in her email six lines of a song, but the rhymed couplets don’t belong in a family newspaper.)  Cho has often cited Weird Al Yankovic as an inspiration — an idol even — so imagine his humor and add some four-letter words.

Some of the material has been appearing online, including at Cho’s homepage.  A recent video posting is the number “25 Random Things.” It shows that Cho can sing with a seductive whisper but seems to prefer belting it out.

“Singing is the most intuitive art form, I think,” continued Cho.  “It requires a lot more attention to your body than other things I have done, even dance!”

Like most women in modern society, Cho has certainly paid keen attention to her body over the years.  One of the most wrenching segments of her film “I’m the One That I Want” is when she recalled in vivid detail her extreme efforts to lose weight while starring in the sitcom “All-American Girl,” which ran for 19 episodes in 1994 and 1995.  “I want to be skinny like the (stars of) ‘Friends,’” she whined.

Issues of body consciousness and weight also come into play with Cho’s current TV show, “Drop Dead Diva,” which debuted on the Lifetime channel in July.   The unlikely scenario: a vapid (and skinny) female model dies and returns to life inside the plus-size body of a thoughtful and successful attorney, played by Brooke Elliott.  As the lawyer’s loyal and efficient assistant, Cho has a surprisingly humorless and secondary role.

Asked whether the show can be considered a comedy or drama, Cho replied, “It’s a dramedy because there is a lot of humor in it but for the most part it is a drama. I love the show and think it’s truly revolutionary.  When you look at women in movies and TV, it’s an unrealistic view of what women really look like. With the show, we are promoting a real woman who is beautiful with real curves, has a real attitude and is fabulous.”

Cho obviously has a lot to say, even if she can’t speak.  As for going silent most of the time lately, she said, “I kind of love it. I don’t ever really want to say anything. I am really shy and reserved so it suits me just fine.”

This story originally appeared in the Times Union.