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To “get” a parody, you have to be familiar with what’s being parodied, right? Sure – usually. The annual drag shows from Heartbeat Opera are exceptions – hilarious, harmonious, happy ones. This year’s extravaganza, Orgy & Bess: Deep Throats and High Notes, will cruise on camp, costumes, and kookiness right into your crooked little heart.
I point out this wide appeal because while, as a non-expert, I didn’t get every reference, I was hugely entertained by every number in this (to coin a term both terrible and multilingual) pastiche buffa.
Oriental Orientation
Maybe the cleverest of all the numbers put together here by director Ethan Heard and artistic director Jacob Ashworth is the one that crams in the most references of all. This is a medley of songs and arias associated with Asian characters in opera, light opera, and musical theater, performed with blessed bigitude and living color by soprano Angela Yam.
All the silliness rippling through her vocal patter and the distraction of the crazy costuming (by David Quinn) didn’t sway my attention from Yam’s gorgeous phrasing and tone.
Her version of Puccini’s Cio-Cio-San was the first of several “angel” characters who guide this show’s Bess (a wonderful Bernard Holcomb) from the Catfish Row of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess to New York City and ultimately an orgy in (of course) Brooklyn.
In the Glam Gutter with Heartbeat Opera
Oh-so-cleverly the creators fit and finagle numbers from classic works into their Bess’s salacious story. The first part of the show humorously calls out the dominance of white male creators in classic opera and the prevalence of exoticism and the male gaze in their depictions of women. But it’s all, and always, in good fun.
See also our recent interview with Heartbeat Opera’s Jacob Ashworth and Dan Schlosberg.
Soprano Jamilyn Manning hams it up, with all the fixings, in a ribald “mad scene” from Lucia de Lammermoor. This bloody and creepy version, dubbed in full the “Hysteric Ingenue’s Mad Scene,” is perfect for the Halloween season.
The scenery is mostly nonexistent except for some projections, but bass-baritone John Taylor Ward fully masticates it as the Patroness, a wealthy dowager who supports opera companies. Initially scandalized by daring re-imaginings of classic operas (precisely the kinds of productions Heartbeat does), soon enough she is high-heeled into the dirty doings with the rest.
Smarty Pants
Mezzo-soprano Sishel Claverie, in the pants role daringly dubbed Pants Role, hosts the orgy with mincing leers and cool baroque-style singing. Holcomb’s powerful Bess anchors the story, commanding attention in several numbers, including from the actual Gershwin, not to mention taking over in Aretha Franklin’s classic recording of “Nessun Dorma.”
There’s a duet from Bellini. There’s Verdi and Wagner. There’s even The Wiz. There’s lovely harmony singing courtesy of Handel. And more.
Piano, violin, clarinets and guitars accompany. Dan Schlosberg, Heartbeat Opera’s regular creator of witty arrangements, shows he can do so even with an extra-small band.
So fear not. You don’t have to be an opera buff to dig Orgy & Bess. You just have to be up for, shall we say, adult material.
But Seriously, Folks…
Even with all the campiness, the show reflects the serious adventurousness the company applies to its mainstage work. If you haven’t experienced a Heartbeat Opera production, check out the upcoming season’s adaptations of Massenet’s Manon (in English!) and Samuel Barber’s Vanessa.
Orgy & Bess, Heartbeat Opera’s 10th annual drag extravaganza, runs through Nov. 8, 2025 at Judson Memorial Church in NYC. Tickets are available online. Visit the Heartbeat Opera website for information about the upcoming season.
