ORGY & BESS GALA PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Saturday, November 1st @ 7:30pm
DOORS OPEN for VIP tables @ 6:30pm
(Visit our show page for information about other performance nights, cast, and creative team.)
Be one of our Queens of the Night and support our artists with a Gala table ticket!
Show us your love for Heartbeat Opera by purchasing a front row seat for our once-in-a-lifetime, one-night-only orgy of operatic drag decadence! Expect exclusive performances from special guests and Heartbeat all-stars, plus a live auction, and a big celebration for our 10th Drag Extravaganza, directed by none other than co-founder and Drag Show legend, Ethan Heard. Snatch a seat at our VIP cabaret tables, where waiters keep the cocktails coming and the queens keep the legs, lashes, and lipsyncs flowing. Purchase single seats or a full table by selecting 4 seats – $500 per seat ($250 tax-deductible). Or purchase regular tickets in orch or side/rear sections for $100/$45. Every gala seat benefits our 2025–26 Season.
your gala ticket
With the purchase of a Queens of the Night Gala VIP Ticket ($500), you are supporting the 150+ Heartbeat artists working on this 2025-26 season, and enjoying an exclusive celebration with the artists behind the art! Your ticket includes a premium seat at our cabaret tables for ORGY & BESS on Saturday, November 1st, with open bar and table service. Plus, doors will open an hour early for you for a cocktail hour with Heartbeat staff and artists.
Want to purchase regular tickets (orch or side/rear orch) to the gala night?
Please do! All tickets sections are on sale for our Gala Performance, and all tickets help support our artists. Orchestra seats are $100 ($75 on other nights), and side/rear orchestra seats are $45. Simply select your seat and we’ll celebrate together.
More about the show…
Strap into your corsets, hoist up your petticoats, and get down with the sexiest and most problematic arias ever shot out of the operatic cannon. Heartbeat’s signature spectacle returns for its celebratory 10th edition, directed by none other than our co-founder and Drag Show legend, Ethan Heard. Let’s walk the tightrope of wokeness together, smear our faces with all the colors of the rainbow, and see what Bess gets up to when she meets her fellow opera queens in the dark alleys and dressing rooms of New York City.
Questions?
Curious about the location, accessibilty, want tips on what to wear, or just want the tea on the event? Check out our FAQs. For help reserving or paying for seats, write us directly at info@heartbeatopera.org
Co-Founder Ethan Heard returns to direct the Drag Extravaganza!
Ethan Heard co-founded Heartbeat Opera with Louisa Proske in 2014 and led the company for 8 seasons, directing hits like Fidelio (NYTimes Critic’s Pick), Butterfly, La Susanna, Dido & Aeneas, Kafka-Fragments, and the first 7 annual drag extravaganzas. His operatic work is “incisive and inspired” (Opera News) and has been presented at BAM, The Met Museum, Opera Philadelphia, Glimmerglass Festival, and The Kennedy Center. He is currently Associate Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, where his credits include Soft Power, Pacific Overtures, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He taught at Yale for 6 years, where he earned his BA and MFA and began another beloved tradition: Yale School of Drag. Welcoming Ethan back to direct is a dream come true for Heartbeat!
“Visually and musically stunning. A wild, sexy bacchanal.”
— Observer
“Every Heartbeat event feels like a happening”
—Joanne Sydney Lessner, Opera News
“New York’s most excitingly innovative and inclusive opera companY”
- David Shengold, Gay City News
Get a taste of the vibe:
ALL ARTS DOCUMENTARY: DRAGUS MAXIMUS
Catch a taste of this inimitable spectacle with this fabulous short documentary about our Drag Show from 2018, they heyday of Ethan Heard’s reign as director of our Annual Drag Extravaganzas.
HIGHLIGHT reel: SLAYLEM, the witch trials
Watch a few dazzling arias and showstopping moments from our first adventure at Judson Church last year, the immensely popular sold-out bonanza, SLAYLEM: The Witch Trials. We can’t wait to return to such an iconic venue for this year’s celebratory 10th show!
Made possible with support from Judson Memorial Church.
