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Review: The goth opera ‘Black Lodge’ delivers a messy, sonic shock in DTLA

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Review: The goth opera 'Black Lodge' delivers a messy, sonic shock in DTLA

As I sat there in the gothic theater, surrounded by ghostly butoh dancers and shadowy figures, I couldn’t help but feel that I had stumbled into David T. Little’s twisted, surreal dreamscape – or perhaps it was Timur Bekbosunov’s. Either way, “Black Lodge” left me spellbound.

“Black Lodge” is maybe a lot of things or maybe not.

This production identifies itself as an opera and was nominated for a Grammy award this year within the opera category, since there isn’t a gothic opera category available at present. It is quite loud, eerie, and confusing in its presentation. It consistently pushes boundaries, blurring lines between reality and fantasy, raw and overly emotional content, and challenging the definition of classical music. Similar to many renowned operas, it was crafted as a showcase for a remarkable vocalist, specifically tenor Timur Bekbosunov, who is commonly known simply as Timur.

filmmaker David Lynch, the late French philosopher Antonin Artaud, and Beat Generation figure William S. Burroughs. The non-linear script was penned by one of our last surviving Beat poets and a relic of that era, Anne Waldman.

Besides that, this special event took place on Saturday at the United Theater on Broadway, presented by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA and Beth Morrison Projects. It was promoted as a Halloween-themed event. The theater’s gothic atmosphere opened 90 minutes ahead of time, transforming its lobby into a pre-show installation called “Bardo,” an eerie performance setup by Sandra Powers.

Some audience members donned costumes, yet none could rival the bizarrely captivating fusion of butoh dance, shadow play, ghostly apparitions of assorted kinds, horror-film-like nurses, models in various states, and more. The atmosphere was filled with music, shouts, televisions, and a myriad of other elements, whether you looked up or down the staircase.

This interpretation of the Buddhist idea of Bardo – a period between death and rebirth, typically used casually to describe moving from one state to another – was filled with awe, yet it portrayed transition as a jarring terror, not for the sensitive souls. I sought solace in familiarity, waiting for the spectacle (akin to an opera) at a nearby taco truck outside.

In the realm of opera, “Black Lodge” is disorganized. However, when viewed as a song cycle or a solo performance, it becomes a breathtakingly insightful masterpiece. For Timur, this production serves to underscore the transformative potential that Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines showcased in their recent staged concerts.

Similar to Bullock’s “Harawi” and Tines’ “Robeson,” Timur has been deeply engrossed for quite some time with his own project. He performed two initial songs from this project at a 2016 Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella concert. The complete piece, consisting of 16 songs, was developed during the pandemic. It was during the COVID-19 lockdowns that director Michael Joseph McQuilken filmed a movie featuring Timur in a white suit, playing the Man, and Jennifer Harrison Newman as the Woman, acting out different stages of anguish and bliss in the homes of the performers.

To the right of the screen, a live, suit-clad Timur performed, singing. Accompanying him were his band, Timur and the Dime Museum (playing keyboards, guitars, and drums, with the musicians also adding extra vocals). The Isaura String Quartet was there too. However, all eyes were on captivating Timur, who embodied the eerie or bizarre spirit of Artaud, Burroughs, Lynch, and of course, Little.

Little’s concept for his work revolved around exploring connections between his own experiences and three intriguing figures: Artaud, who strove to reinvent theater as a form of psychic ritual and ultimately developed mental health issues; Burroughs, who sought to fragment reality by ‘cutting up’ various elements, tragically resulting in the accidental death of his wife; and Lynch, whose unique surreal style (he was not involved in this project). The musician, as he recounts in the liner notes for “Black Lodge,” grew up with a keen awareness of the darker aspects of life, and now journeys through these shadows in pursuit of, and often uncovering, beauty.

The production does not seemingly distinguish among the three parts: “The Hungry Ghost and Hell Realms,” “The Animal, Human and Demigod Realms” and “The Realm of the Shamans.” Each of the songs explicates a place and time of an incident or an idea in the lives of the protagonists. One moment we are considering what it might mean to replace the soundtrack of a film set in Petrograd in 1917 with something else. The next, we look for a severed digit at Cambridge in 1939.

This artwork by Van Gogh carries the lingering impact of his severed ear, as it initially and persistently portrays pain. Eventually, it captures the desired final rest of Artaud in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, in 1948. The concluding lines of Waldman’s libretto express a simple plea: “I yearn to escape.

One method for rephrasing in a natural and easy-to-understand manner is: One of America’s most prosperous opera composers, Little, often combines rock music, minimalism, and a form of modern Romantic storytelling into captivating yet straightforward operas that convey dramatic intensity. He intensifies the chilling aspects of grim themes in works such as “Soldier Songs” and “Dog Days,” which explore war and anger extensively. However, his attempt to introduce a surreal perspective on the life of John F. Kennedy didn’t delve deeply enough.

As a cinema enthusiast, I’ve never encountered a collaborator quite like Waldman. Her script was a genuine surrealist journey with few anchors other than vivid images, allowing a remarkable tenor to traverse a myriad of emotional landscapes through an array of music genres and vocal expressions. Every song was a unique musical masterpiece, but the magic wasn’t always immediately apparent.

The rock group’s performance was so loud it could rattle your bones, make your flesh tremble, and leave you feeling dazed. It wasn’t always uncomfortable, but it numbed your senses much like a drug would. Intermittent periods of tranquility served as a surprise, only to eventually grow tiresome as well.

The top-notch recording, oddly labeled as a film soundtrack and worthy of a Grammy in any category, offers depth and detail. However, Timur’s live performance transcends this, adding another layer of ethereal grandeur that neither the movie nor intense amplification can match.

In a somewhat operatic fashion, Little, Waldman, and Timur find themselves in a realm where feelings are laid bare only to vanish, hinting at the uncharted ahead. Our destination remains uncertain. Yet, we sense something fresh and vital, requiring our trust rather than destruction, lest we be left more disoriented than invigorated.

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2024-10-23 00:31

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