Carmen, domesticated Carmen, domesticated

On May 2, Rebecca Herman‘s conceptualizing of Carmen was a significant departure from the traditional depiction of a marginalized “other,” maintaining a traditional staging in Seville.

Prick and choose Prick and choose

Heartbeat Opera knows how to party.

A Messy Little Christmas A Messy Little Christmas

Part vaudeville, part opera concert and part drag ball, Heartbeat Opera’s pageant was like a cup of eggnog spiked with a dash of LSD.

‘Lady’ Willpower ‘Lady’ Willpower

Lady M, an Online Fantasia on Verdi’s Macbeth, Heartbeat Opera’s creative and thought-provoking foray into the Zoom opera scene, left me feeling alternately pensive, hopeful and somewhat uneasy, in a good way.

Calling the shots Calling the shots

Heartbeat Opera has set Der Freischütz in a contemporary era, in a rural locale where gun culture reigns supreme and bullying is natural.

Too much, too soon Too much, too soon

Heartbeat is, after all, a company that loves to tinker.

Fixing the fan Fixing the fan

Cio-Cio and Carmen: what do you do with two tragic heroines who typify not just the sexist clichés, but also the soupy exotic fixations, of the Old-World West?

Women past the verge Women past the verge

An astute double-feature exposes all the complexities of female suffering embedded within two canonical works.