Release the Stars

"I'm tired of writing elegies to boredom," sings a characteristically dolorous Rufus Wainwright in "Sanssouci," although ennui runs through much of his witty and beautiful fifth album. It starts magnificently with "Do I Disappoint You," a quasi-operatic interrogation of God, and continues with "Going to a Town," a righteous condemnation of middle-American intolerance. "Tulsa" and "Slideshow" couldn't be more specific in their targets, while the theatrically over-the-top title track justifies any and all excesses.