Opera On Tap To Celebrate The Macabre At The Flea at BUCKET O' BLOOD CABARET

Returning for the second time this year, Opera on Tap brings its signature irreverent approach to opera to The Flea in its resident immersive cabaret series. In honor of the season, we are pleased to present Bucket o'Blood Cabaret. Committed to the tagline "No one gets in for free... but nobody gets out alive", the company promises to deliver an evening of blood-red cocktails paired with hair-raising operatic screams.

The cabaret will feature an eclectic array of creepy operatically-tinged songs by Christopher Berg, Daniel Felsenfeld, Tom Lehrer, David Mallamud, Dave Malloy, One Ring Zero, Kamala Sankaram, Stephen Sondheim, Weird Al Jankovic, Ozzy Osbourne and others.

Direction by David Gordon and Cari Ann Shim Sham*
Costume Design by Ramona Ponce
Lighting Design by Christopher Weston
Sound Design by Todd Perlmutter

Performed by Christopher Berg, Joanie Brittingham, Kacey Cardin, Matthew Curran, Rachel Duval, Seth Gilman, David Gordon, Anne Hiatt, Kamala Sankaram, Kannan Vasudevan, and Krista Wozniak

*The event will also include the first fully-staged live performance of The Parksville Murders- The world's first virtual reality opera, by composer Kamala Sankaram and writer Jerre Dye. The VR opera, directed by Cari Ann Shim Sham* and produced by Opera on Tap in association with Shim Sham* and Todd Perlmutter won Best VR Video at the NYC Indie Film Festival in 2017 and premiered online as featured content on SamsungVR. The piece is currently being featured on InceptionVR and JauntVR- two major VR distribution platforms. Opera on Tap (OOT), now 12 years old, was one of the pioneers in the movement to bring opera out of the opera house and into alternative venues, like bars. OOT has made a name for itself by presenting laid-back, entertaining, and irreverent operatic concerts in bars that break down all of the traditional rules surrounding opera and poke fun at all of opera's seriousness. By breaking down the barriers that many people perceive around the art-form, Opera on Tap shines a light on the core elements that make opera great: the beauty of the music, the (often bizarre) stories, and the incredible talent it takes to sing operatic repertoire without any amplification. Opera on Tap's credo is that the power of the human voice is best appreciated about 20 feet away, with a beer in hand.

"Opera on Tap has always been about pushing the boundaries in opera and Bucket O' Blood Cabaret is a fantastic example of that. We're already known for our VR horror opera, so why not take it to the stage and bathe our audiences in a creepy live operatic experience? We like to hover on the line between art and entertainment, and given that it will be Halloween, operatic horror music seems like a natural curational choice. It turns out, there is a plethora of great vocal music out there that fits the theme, and we are so excited to feature works by so many composers that we have collaborated with in the past."- Anne Hiatt/ General Managing Diva of Opera on Tap

"As the director of the Parksville Murders second act for the Bucket O' Blood show I'm most excited by the transfer from the goggle/vr experience of episode one into a live immersive experience for our audience. Expect to be spooked, wowed and entertained! In the end you may even end up dancing and singing, but no one will get out alive!" -Cari Ann Shim Sham* / Director

Supporting contemporary composers, especially those based in OOT's home community of Brooklyn, has always been part of Opera on Tap's mission. Their New Brew series, presented at Barbès bi-monthly, features themed programs of contemporary classical vocal music on a variety of topics. Since 2012, Opera on Tap NYC has also been commissioning and producing modern, immersive new chamber operas by up-and-coming local composers as part of its ROADWORKS Series.

Performances:
October 31 @ 9pm, November 1 @ 9pm, November 2 @ 9pm, and November 3 @9pm
The Pete @ The Flea (20 Thomas Street, Manhattan, NY)
Tickets available now, starting at $30