David T. Little’s Black Lodge Is a “Happy Delirium"
David T. Little’s Black Lodge garnered strong reviews after its presentation at Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 in October.
On October 1, David T. Little’s film opera Black Lodge was presented at Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 and the 2022 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, with a live performance by Timur & the Dime Museum alongside musicians from the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra. The libretto, written by poet Anne Waldman, draws on the disturbing and complicated mythologies of the surrealist writer William S. Burroughs. The film, directed by Michael Joseph McQuilken, is available to watch on the Opera Philadelphia Channel.
Little’s Soldier Songs, which is also available to stream on the Opera Philadelphia Channel, was recently awarded Opera America’s 2022 Award for Digital Excellence in Opera in the “Artistic Creation” prize category.
The Broad Street Review called Black Lodge “remarkable,” and the New York Times saluted Little’s “longstanding interest in the grittier side of pop” and “dark, pounding industrial ‘nu metal’ style.”
The performance of lead singer Timur was also the subject of high praise, described by Broadway World as having “three voices in one person.” The Wall Street Journal commented that he sounded “alternately like a Baroque countertenor, a baritone, a rocker and a crooner.”
The New York Times
“The music embraces Little’s longstanding interest in the grittier side of pop, the dark, pounding industrial 'nu metal' style of Slipknot, Korn and System of a Down.”
“Every register, moan to scream, is handled with indefatigable goth aplomb by the charismatically wailing Timur.”
The Wall Street Journal
“In Black Lodge, [Timur] sounds alternately like a Baroque countertenor, a baritone, a rocker and a crooner.”
Bachtrack
“a happy delirium”
“It was a nonlinear nightmare, a hybrid delusion, a dark dream from the moment the musicians walked out.”
Broad Street Review
“complex, layered, thought-provoking, and over the top”
“simply thrilling, both to watch and to hear.”
Broadway World
“One often found oneself enraptured by Little's music”
> Further information on Work: Black Lodge
Photo: Courtesy of Beth Morrison Projects