Heartbeat Opera’s QUANDO premieres at The McKittrick Hotel

Heartbeat Opera’s QUANDO brought a one-of-a-kind film and theatrical performance at The McKittrick Hotel, home of Sleep No More, April 7-9.

Presented by The McKittrick Hotel, QUANDO is Directed and Edited by Tee Vaden, produced and conceptualized by Associate Artistic Director, Derrell Acon, with Photography Direction by Kathryn Boyd-Batstone and Production Design by Yuki Izumihara.

The film stars Lauren Michelle, Brian Vu, and Shelley Washington. Musical director Daniel Schlosberg arranged the film score for a mix of instruments and electronics. The live performance features Mx. Oww and Jessie Cox.

The 75-minute experience took place in the McKittrick’s upstairs theater, the Club Car. The evening kicked off with the short film, challenging viewers with “…issues of representation, inequity, and self-serving actions that plague so many industries and movements, not by simply calling out the problem but by showing what is possible, while asking viewers to interrogate themselves and their motivations, which is one of my favorite sorts of call to action,” said Director & Editor, Tee Vaden. After the screening, the film played once more with a theatrical performance by Mx. Oww and Jessie Cox actively disrupting the music throughout, creating a mesmerizing experience for the audience.

QUANDO is the latest production by Heartbeat Opera whose mission is to create “incisive adaptations and revelatory arrangements of classics, reimagining them for the here and now.” Previous productions by Heartbeat Opera include FIDELIO, which toured earlier this year including performances at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and The Broad Stage in California, and Messy Messiah, Heartbeat Opera’s 7th annual Drag Extravaganza, at Roulette in Brooklyn. Learn more about QUANDO by viewing the trailer and visiting Heartbeat Opera’s website. You can also visit The McKittrick Hotel to experience Sleep No More and Speakeasy Magick at 530 West 27th Street in Manhattan. Special thank you to Stephanie Geyer and the McKittrick Hotel staff for welcoming NYS Music to their beautiful venue.