Heartbreak Hotel: Whitney at Hi Arts – El Barrio Artspace PS109 in East Harlem
December 11th, 2018 by Mr. C
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Heartbreak Hotel: Whitney was a very fun & lively solo performance musical play written and performed by Shannon Matesky. Shannon’s story was based on her relationship and ultimate breakup with her love. Her vehicle of telling this tale was through classic Whitney Houston tunes and actually a song or two from Whitney that I’m not familiar with. Besides being the music & pop icon that Whitney is, Shannon uses Whitney as an example or metaphor of a tragic story as we know it as she tells her own experiences with her heartbreak. The performance took us on a roller coaster of emotions as she expertly used comedy, poetry & spoken word, dancing, & singing to convey her message! Whitney Houston videos were projected on the wall and was used as a segue to either change the flow and experience of her story and to also use the Whitney music video to ignite the audience into a sing along! Some songs that I can remember that we all got into was “I wanna dance with somebody”, “Run to you”, “How will I know”, “I will always love you”, “I’m your baby tonight”, & “Something in Common” with Bobby Brown. There was a live performance on the Oprah show that I don’t quite remember the tune of as well that was projected on the wall.
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(Hi-Arts building on e99th street)
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The performance was very engaging and the music instantly brought you back to a memorable time in your life as you belt out that familiar Whitney greatest hit with strangers next to you! The play made you laugh, cry, & shake your head at times. It made you think of how her experiences and Whitney’s for that matter can really apply to you and how you can better deal & cope with the good times while being dealt with the bad hand as well.
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Heartbreak Hotel: Whitney seemed to have made a few runs before and it definitely seemed to be a work in progress.
After the performance, there was a brief talk-back with Shannon and the director as they were both curious to hear what the audience thought as they had some tech issues regarding the video format and some of the playback being projected. To be honest, I didn’t realize or detect that there were any issues myself. Shannon’s performance didn’t clue me in that something was wrong. I thought everything flowed very well as she told her story from the comedic to the sad moments as well as during times of self reflection. The only props on the stage besides the glamorous fur coat upon entrance was a bathtub and a martini glass filled with water and not vodka! The bathtub and the martini glass were very strong images in the play as to what I assume the referencing to Whitney.
I’m not sure when Heartbreak Hotel will have its run again but I wouldn’t hesitate to try to redeem my falsetto vocals again on the next showing! Maybe you’ll join me?
Hi-Arts
215 E 99th Street
New York, NY 10029
(Simple props on stage but the image of the bathtub & martini glass were very meaningful especially pertaining to Whitney Houston)
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(L-Shannon Matesky;R-Lili-Anne Brown (director)
Tags: east harlem, elbarrio artspace, harlem, heartbreak hotel, hi arts, ps109, theatre, whitney houston
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