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gallery
November 1, 2016

This Halloween Drag Show Took Mozart to Outer Space

By the Cut

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Photo: David Williams

Heartbeat Opera, a New York opera company, dedicated its third-annual Halloween drag show to Mozart’s music because, according to one director, the classical composer was entirely raunchy. “He’s a naughty guy,” co-artistic director Ethan Heard said after the show. (Example: Mozart’s 1782 canon “Leck mich im Arsch” — “Lick me in the ass.”)

Heard, one of four recent Yale grads who founded Heartbeat Opera in 2014, explained fusing drag with Mozart was the perfect fit: “Opera is already gender-bending, so it just feels right,” he said. “Women sing men’s parts and men sing women’s parts. It’s just a thing.”

The group transformed Williamsburg music hall National Sawdust into a spaceship last night, staging two benefit performances of Queens of the Night: Mozart in Space. They cast two costume designers to create the show’s glittering intergalatic looks: Miodrag Guberinic, who designed the armor for Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour, and Jon Carter, who created the make up for Broadway’s The King and I. Carter also did the performers’ hair and makeup. “Opera singers are aliens in a way, because they do something that’s superhuman,” co-artistic director Louisa Proske said. “We wanted that to be visually represented.”

The looks reflect that: intricate headpieces, cage bodysuits, and silver leather. Click ahead to see photos from the night.

Photographs by David Williams. Text by Catie L’Heureux.

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1 / 20 Photos
Taurean Everett, Draaagon, lip-synching diva. Photo: David Williams
Kristin Gornstein, mezzo-soprano. Photo: David Williams
Heartbeat Opera co-music director Daniel Schlosberg, piano. Photo: David Williams
Taurean Everett. Photo: David Williams
Royer Bockus, assistant director. Photo: David Williams
Taurean Everett as Draaagon. Photo: David Williams
Photo: David Williams
John Taylor Ward, baritone, with Emma Jaster, robot. Photo: David Williams
Kristin Gorstein, mezzo. Photo: David Williams
Michaël Attias, saxophone. Photo: David Williams
Photo: David Williams
John Taylor Ward, baritone. Photo: David Williams
Aliens Marie Marquis (soprano), Jamilyn Manning-White (soprano), and Kristin Gorstein (mezzo). Photo: David Williams
Sam Suggs, bass. Photo: David Williams
Photo: David Williams
Cantata Profana, Heartbeat Opera's resident ensemble. Photo: David Williams
Photo: David Williams
Heartbeat Opera co-artistic director Ethan Heard. Photo: David Williams
Photo: David Williams
Photo: David Williams
1 / 20

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