Heartbeat Opera, performing at Roulette in downtown Brooklyn, presented its seventh annual ‘opera drag extravaganza,’ for three performances beginning on December 16. The other times I experienced this very gay gala, the holiday theme reflected its proximity to Halloween—this one was a celebration of Christmas and winter. The show was billed as “Messy Messiah” and the first night, considered here, was a benefit. Jacob Ashworth conducted the small orchestra and quartet of fine soloists. Ethan Heard was the director, Eamon Foley the choreographer, and Fabian Aguilar the costume designer.
In the overture, arranged by pianist and harpsichordist Daniel Schlosberg, the classics were peppered with the likes of Charlie Brown’s “Christmas Time Is Here,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” and “Carol of the Bells.” Tenor Elliott Paige’s “Comfort Ye … Every Valley,” from George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” was at once campy and bel canto. Virtuoso coloratura cascaded out of soprano Samarie Alicea in Adele’s Laughing Song, “Look at How I Look,” from Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus,” and later, in “Rejoice,” from “Messiah.” Mezzo-soprano Alissa Anderson’s Erika, from Samuel Barber’s “Vanessa,” was no ingénue, but the heavy, dressed in black, carrying a lantern, and delivering a baleful “Must the Winter Come So Soon.” Bass John Taylor Ward gave us a “Cold Song,” from Henry Purcell’s “King Arthur,” that was shivery indeed.
Dancer Jourdan Epstein offered a graceful “Waltz of the Snowflakes,” from Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker,” during which paper ‘snow’ pelted us, and Alicea and Anderson’s “How Beautiful Are the Feet,” from “Messiah,” found the women worshiping Epstein’s talented feet. After the company’s interlude of “And He Shall Purify,” from “Messiah,” concerned, here, with masks, sanitizer, and air purifiers, attention shifted back to Epstein, for “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and a perpetual motion “Trepak,” with Alicea and Anderson assisting her in moving en pointe along a quartet of, presumably, champagne bottles. Paige paid tribute to Luciano Pavarotti with an ebullient “Funiculí, Funiculá,” of Luigi Denza, in which SpaghettiOs, ravioli, and Chef Boyardee got mentioned, and the orchestra saluted the season with a whirlwind “Winter,” from Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”
This brought us to a surprise appearance by star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who favored us, not only with a Baroque aria, but also with his fundraising take on the Mother’s “All that Gold!,” from Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” and the gayest of “O Holy Night”s, of Adolphe Adam.
Ward’s “The Trumpet Shall Sound,” from “Messiah,” was fluently florid and had the expert support of trumpeter Evan Honse. Four soloists, rather than four sections of a chorus, gave us a nevertheless rousing “Halleluja,” from “Messiah,” in which “He” became “She” and “King of Kings,” “Queen of Queens,” for the grand finale. Encores were “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, from “Meet Me in St. Louis,” essentially Anderson’s solo with the others as back-ups, and the first act farewell trio, here a quartet, “Goodbye, Farewell,” from “Fledermaus.” For a final encore, Maestro Ashworth received a wedding proposal, with all of us as witnesses.
Heartbeat’s season continues with its adaptation of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on February 10, 12, and 13, 2022, and then on tour in California and Arizona.