Heartbeat Opera’s Production is Minimalist
Unlike productions in a grand opera hall, Heartbeat’s trademark small orchestra sits stage left, always in view.
The singers all wear black.
We feel the color of gray— an ever overcast day.
The five singers move with studied precision. It’s as if they know a sudden jerk of their frame might upset the spirits ever clamoring for a hearing. Sometimes, these swirling inner world spirits seem to get bottled by rectangular spotlights framing a solo aria. This bright spotlight rectangle, and all the lighting effects en toto, become a sixth character on the otherwise uber-minimalist stage.
We hear melodies with an undertow…
We hear anguish…
We hear anxiety…
We hear resignation…
We hear stoicism…
You too might feel that every note of the score is wrapped in black funereal bunting.
The opera doesn’t convey the characters’ evanescent moods. Rather, these are feelings long baked in.
While Carmen or Tosca wear their hearts on their sleeves; Vanessa (and her niece Erika) instead wear their souls on their sleeves.
The gist of the story is—-
At first the title character (sung by Inna Dukach) is relating her years of waiting for her long lost love. This lover, Anatol (sung by Freddie Ballentine) does appear— finally— but actually is not the expected Anatol but rather his son of the same name. Vanessa’s niece, Erika (sung by Kelsey Lauritano), feels fireworks of attraction to Anatol, who quickly seduces her. But Anatol then also takes up with Vanessa. Erika has a botched suicide attempt, and rebuffs Anatol’s attempts to make peace. The family doctor (sung by Joshua Jeremiah )confronts Anatol, to no effect. Mary Phillips, performing the role of the Baroness, explains (in the post-show talk) that her character doesn’t say much, because she has said so much before, and is tired of nobody listening.
Curiously, how and why each character thought the way they did and said or didn’t say X, Y or, Z was very much on the mind of the audience in the post-performance talk. It was the kind of focus one might expect more from an audience who had just binge-watched Ingmar Bergman films.
This reviewer was stuck by how this discussion showcased Heartbeat’s success at packaging Barber and Menotti’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera as psychoanalytic riddle to be solved, above and beyond the music per se.
Expect Heartbeat’s take on Samuel Barber’s Vanessa to cling to you.
RECOMMENDED
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CAST:
Inna Dukach (Vanessa), Kelsey Lauritano (Erika), Frederick Ballentine (Anatol), Joshua Jeremiah (Doctor), Mary Phillips (Baroness)
CREATIVE TEAM:
Music by Samuel Barber
Original Libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti
Adapted by Jacob Ashworth
Newly Arranged by Dan Schlosberg
Directed by R.B. Schlather
Music Directed by Jacob Ashworth
WHEN:
May 12 – 31, 2026
WHERE:
Baruch Performing Arts Center
55 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10010
TICKETS:
$35+
For more information and tickets visit the Heartbeat Opera website.
Photo by Russ Rowland
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About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
