Settle in for some good ol' fashioned avant-garde theater. You can now view the entire 2+ hour Austrian TV broadcast of "Black Rider," a 1990 collaboration between Tom Waits, William S. Burroughs, and theater director Robert Wilson. (In the video linked to below, the actual performance starts at 07:30.) From UBUWEB:
Wilson was largely responsible for the design and direction. Burroughs wrote the book, while Waits wrote the music and lyrics. The project began in about 1988 when Wilson approached Waits. The story is based on a German folktale called Der Freischütz, which had previously been made into an opera by Carl Maria von Weber. It premiered at Hamburg's Thalia Theatre on March 31, 1990. November Theatre produced its world English-language premiere in 1998 at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival in Canada, and the American English-language premiere at the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999. Waits recorded much of the music from the play in different arrangements under the eponymous title, The Black Rider.Wilhelm, a file clerk, falls in love with a huntsman's daughter. In order to marry, Wilhelm must prove his worth as a hunter and gain her father's approval, but, as "a man of pen and ink", his shot is lousy and his hopes of marriage worsen. That is until he is offered magic bullets by the devil, Pegleg – who assures him that his bullets will always have a sure shot. However, Pegleg stipulates that, while most of the bullets will hit anything Wilhelm pleases, one of the bullets is under Pegleg's control. Foolish, naive, and overrun with desperate hope, Wilhelm accepts the Faustian pact. On the day of Wilhelm's wedding, the final bullet strikes his beloved dead. He then goes mad, and joins the previous victims of Satan's cunning in the Devil's carnival.
"The Black Rider" (via @chris_carter_)
Tom Waits: "The Black Rider" album (Amazon)
