(PRINCETON, NJ) -- When composer David T. Little’s newest cinematic opera creation Black Lodge premiered in concert at Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 in September, the Twin Peaks-inspired film was hailed for “pushing the boundaries of what opera is” (Broadway World) and “redefining opera on stage and screen” (Wall Street Journal,).
Opera Philadelphia, in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects, presents the theatrical premiere of the film at five regional movie theaters on Saturday, January 21 at 1:00pm, offering audiences an opportunity to immerse themselves in the intersection of two art forms.
The film will screen at Bryn Mawr Film Institute in Delaware County; The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Chester County; County Theater in Doylestown, Bucks County; Ambler Theater in Montgomery County; and Princeton Garden Theatre in Princeton, NJ.
“Be careful what you need to know,” warns the protagonist of David T. Little’s surrealist cinematic opera. Blending classical music with goth rock (and with a nod to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks), Black Lodge is a journey into magic, mystery, regret, and redemption.
Set in a nightmarish Bardo, a place between death and rebirth, a tormented writer (the charismatic Timur) faces down demons of his own making. Forced to confront the darkest moment in his life, he mines fractured and repressed memories for a way out. A woman (Jennifer Harrison Newman) is at the center of all the writer’s afterlife encounters. She is the subject of his life’s greatest regret, and she materializes everywhere in this Otherworld. The writer cannot detach any thoughts of his life from her. Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, the bold film features a libretto by legendary poet Anne Waldman and story, screenplay, and direction by Michael Joseph McQuilken.
The feature film is accompanied by Opera Philadelphia’s 2021 short film We Need to Talk from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and director Maureen Towey, starring soprano Ariadne Greif.
Princeton Garden Theatre is a a nonprofit community arthouse theater located at 160 Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey.
