Heartbeat Opera's Vanessa Transfers to New York After Williamstown Run

Heartbeat Opera, a company specializing in stripped down versions of classic operas, brings its adaptation of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa to New York City after a run last summer at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Vanessa will run May 12-31 at Baruch Performing Arts Center.

Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera is directed by R.B. Schlather, with new arrangements by Dan Schlosberg for a band of seven, and an adaptation by Jacob Ashworth that strips the story to five singers.

In the opera, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1958, Vanessa waits, along with her niece Erika and her mother the Baroness, in her shadowy estate for the arrival of her long-lost lover, who, when he arrives, launches the family into psychological turmoil.

Three of the five original cast members from the Williamstown production return for the New York premiere: Inna Dukach in the title role, Joshua Jeremiah as the Doctor, and Mary Phillips as the Baroness. New to the cast are Kelsey Lauritano as Erika and Frederick Ballentine as Anatol.

The creative team includes Jiaying Erica Zhang (set design), Terese Wadden (costumes), Yuki Nakase Link (lighting), Skye Bronfenbrenner (movement), and Peregrine Heard (dramaturg). Conducted by Jacob Ashworth, the band is made up of Sunny Sheu, Thapelo Masita, Louis Argues, Grace O’Connell, Sam George, Deanna Cirielli, and Eliot Goldmund.