I finally get around to seeing The Black Rider at the Ahmanson. Sean, who’s visiting me gets to come with, since I happen to have two tickets waiting for me at the Ahmanson Box Office. The tix are courtesy of new friend Stasy, who happens to be working on the show (which impresses the hell out of me) and who happens to have incredible taste in music. By incredible, I mean, of course, extremely close to my own.
The production, with music by Tom Waits, text by William Burroughs and staging by Robert Wilson, is a fantastic blend of Cabaret, German Expressionism, Tim Burton and Marionette Theater. Afterwards, as Sean and I stumble from the theater into the cool downtown air, Sean decribes the experience like this: at times (especially in the first act,) sitting in the audience reminds him of the scene in Better Off Dead where John Cusack’s character sits in math class. The enthusiastic math teacher (played by the late great Vincent Schiavelli) scribbles incomprehensible equations on the board that leave him completely mystified, but which are met with rapturous applause and cheers from his fellow students.
The show is in its last weekend. Check it out if you still can.
4 Comments
It was indeed superb! I I especially liked the opening number after intermission. You should check out Grendel.
http://www.laopera.com/production/index.asp?productionid=197
It’s fantastically beautiful!
Hope all is well!
:-) L
Black Rider was pretty good…. but i’m pretty sure that the Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is gonna kick its ass! Yeah!
Llyr!! – I told my friend Mark about Beowulf. I, alas, can’t make it.
Sean – I think when you see Tokyo Drift you’ll notice a lot of thematic similarities to Black Rider.
should i be jealous of stasy? jus’ checkin’