Looking back, it was the first long and dark opening chords true to Gounod’s score for Faust that let us mistakenly think Heartbeat Opera just makes opera accessible with lower ticket prices. Our sloppy thinking along these lines sees there are only eight musicians in the orchestra— that’s quite a savings. The stage and seating at the Baruch Performing Arts Center are minuscule compared the the likes the grand Met Opera stage about 3 miles away. That too would be quite a savings.
Within minutes of Gounod’s opening chords, Heartbeat Opera dispels all such mundane thoughts about how they pursue their mission to make opera accessible to all. No blind and blunt DOGE-like cost cutters they! If you too adore creativity, Heartbeat announces this as their super-power almost from the start. Mephistopheles’ extra red-gloved hands (Costume Design: Elivia Bovenzi Blitz; Puppetry Design: Nick Lehane) imbue this slithery devil with arachnid anti-charm. For this reviewer, such dazzling display of creative juices at work continues til the final curtain. From a Punch and Judy re-enactment of how saintly Marguerite gets knocked up, to use of shadow puppets and lighting special effects to create garden scenes and first kisses, to oldie silent film style libretto snippets to make sure things move along quickly without drowning us in exposition, to spoken lines in the vernacular of that dive bar in the ‘hood whose Happy Hour you know so well, to brilliant violin or clarinet spotlights in duet accompaniments to arias and more— it feels like every note in the score, and every inch of the stage is smartly considered in intricate detail throughout (Director: Sara Holdren).
Heartbeat Opera Marries Musical Insights AND Stagecraft Wizardry
It is the re-imagining of the orchestration by musical director Jacob Ashworth that most makes Heartbeat’s Faust fly. Expect to often find your eyes casting stage right to the orchestra sitting on the stage. There is ample musical punctuation to the affect of the lyrics. Mesmerizing, Ashworth’s expressive violin early on threatens to steal the show.
Tip: Listen to the full opera on Youtube the next day and be struck by how the small orchestra of Heartbeat’s Faust feels relatively unencumbered. Note also how the bypass of the many full chorus parts seems to liberate the story from segues to segues of the original Gounod. Heartbeat’s adaptation is made for our time.
Gounod based his opera on Goethe’s work, as did the Soviet satirist Mikhail Bulgakov whose version of the tale, The Master and Margarita, informs the Heartbeat story line, as explained in the program notes. Goethe, Gounod and Bulgakov all convey a tale of good vs. evil or darkness vs. light. Heartbeat takes the metaphor of darkness vs. light to be a unifying touchstone of their production culminating in (SPOILER ALERT!) Marguerite’s spirit transcending to heaven depicted by the light of a stage-length crucifix that almost blinds us in its klieg-lite like strength in the finale.
Triple-Threat Devil and Singing Talents
Whenever he appears and whenever he sings, bass-baritone John Taylor Ward as the Devil. captivates. Though he doesn’t dance per se, his physical acting talents shine through as clearly as does his considerable vocal range. Certainly his costume helps— long feather in his cap, red corset, red gloves etc. — but you’ll notice you love seeing him as much as hearing him.
The two other leads, Orson Van Gay II as Faust and Rachel Kobernick as Marguerite , certainly deliver their parts. We especially love when tenor Gay moves to the edge of the stage to help us better admire his sustained long note. Similarly, Kobernick injects coloratura sparkle seamlessly. You notice how all singers more than hold their own when the opera breaks into three-part of four-part contrapuntal performance from time to time.
You too though might find yourself thirsting for larger parts for two of the minor roles, whose crisp and powerful voices notably fill the hall —- baritone Alex DeSocio as Marguerite’s brother Valentin and mezzo-soprano AddieRose Brown as Siebel. Siebel typically is a trouser role, but here is re-imagined as Marguerite’s would-be lesbian love interest. Such updating of the script is pitch perfect and often injects humor to lighten the classic’s load. It’s a sitcom level libretto at times for sure— but like your guilty pleasure favorite sitcom— you love every minute and can’t wait for the next episode to come.
Exhilarating!
If you value creative expression in the arts above all, Heartbeat Opera is a top pick for your time.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
For information on next year’s season and a summer performance in Williamstown, visit the Heartbeat Opera website.
Photos by Andrew Boyle
This story has been added to the Picture This Post roundup article on OPERAS WE LOVE.
Watch this video preview here--
CAST:
Faust // Orson Van Gay II
Marguerite // Rachel Kobernick
Mephistopheles // John Taylor Ward
Siebel // AddieRose Brown
Valentin // Alex DeSocio
Marta // Eliza Bonet
Wagner // Brandon Bell
Puppeteer // Rowan Magee
Puppeteer // Emma Wiseman
BAND:
Conductor & Violin/Mandolin // Jacob Ashworth
Flutes // Yoshi Weinberg
Clarinets/Saxophones // Louis Arques
Trumpet // Clyde Daley
Harmonium // Artis Wodehouse
Piano // Ari Livne
Cello // Thapelo Masita
Bass/Electric Bass // Eleonore Oppenheim
CREATIVE TEAM:
Director // Sara Holdren
Music Director // Jacob Ashworth
Co-Scenic Designers // Yichen Zhou & Forest Entsminger
Costume Designer // Elivia Bovenzi Blitz
Lighting Designer // Yichen Zhou
Puppetry Designer // Nick Lehane
Props Designer // Corinne Gologursky
Production Stage Manager // Abril Valbuena
Fight Director // Rick Sordelet
Producer // Jesse Tendler
Production Management // Daria Walcott
Technical Director // Lauren Parrish
Sound Designer // Kodi Lynn Milburn
Associate Director // Nico Krell
Associate Producer // Jasmine Galante
Assistant Stage Manager // Brenna Comeau
Asst Music Director/Orch Manager // Jake Eisner
Assistant Producer // Kodi Lynn Milburn
Lighting Programmer // Zaid Dawsari
Production Electrician // Jacqueline Scaletta
Copyist & Additional Orchestration // Harry Collins
Supertitles Translator // Samuel Ashworth
Supertitles Operator // Nicholas Betson
Wardrobe Supervisor // Linnea Soderberg
Repetiteurs // Ari Livne & Po-Wei Ger
Artistic Director // Jacob Ashworth
Executive Director // Christian De Gré Cárdenas
Music Director // Dan Schlosberg
Marketing & Communications Manager // Nicole Cantos
Development Assistant // Nicole Redifer
Administrative Intern // Warren Mullinnix
Publicity // Aleba Gartner
Financial Consultants // Arts FMS
Click here to read more Picture This Post Heartbeat Opera stories.
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.
