Inspired by the work of William S. Burroughs, Black Lodge is a startlingly beautiful rock opera. This trailer instantly caught my attention and I can not wait for the entire production, which their release describes as "a Lynchian psychological escape room."
Release:
EXCLUSIVE: Beth Morrison Projects and Opera Philadelphia drop the new trailer of their industrial rock opera film BLACK LODGE, performed by punk-opera band Timur and the Dime Museum (America's Got Talent; feat. Skinny Puppy guitarist Matthew Setzer), actor/dancer Jennifer Harrison Newman (Broadway's The Lion King and Saturday Night Fever) and the Los Angeles-based Isaura String Quartet.
Directed by Michael Joseph McQuilken (Never Like This with Lupita Nyong'o; Amanda Palmer's The Bed Song), the music is composed by Grammy-nominated David T. Little with lyrics by Anne Waldman, acclaimed poet and Allen Ginsberg collaborator. Renowned musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, is an executive producer of BLACK LODGE.Drawing on the complicated mythologies of the surrealist writer William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch), BLACK LODGE uses dance, industrial rock, classical string quartet, and opera to take viewers through a Lynchian psychological escape room.
Produced by the critically-acclaimed Beth Morrison Projects, the film will premiere with a live soundtrack accompaniment at Opera Philadelphia's O22 Festival for two performances, on October 1 and 2, after which the film will be available on Opera Philadelphia's streaming channel for a year.
Composer Philip Glass said of the project: "Black Lodge is a bold new operatic film. It seamlessly blends poetry and music into a powerful cinematic experience."
Thurston Moore adds: "This is opera ripping through the fabric of future vision psychosis where the integrity of classic form clasps the hands of radical possibilities. David T. Little takes no prisoners here, in confluence with poet angel head Anne Waldman's libretto of nature, irreality and spirit consciousness divining deliverance from life's spectacle of chaos and love. You're about to have yr mind scorched, my friends!"
The original soundtrack recording of BLACK LODGE will be released on Cantaloupe Music in 2023.
Image: screen grab
