One of last year’s bizarre but true productions will soon be played out in the UK – an operatic version of Lost Highway, the gritty film noir by David Lynch (released 1997).
According to the TimesOnline: “you might be familiar with one key scene. A charming but psychopathic gangster called Mr Eddy has just brutally kicked a man within an inch of his life for committing an antisocial act. A car mechanic called Pete looks on with some horror. “Sorry about that, Pete,” says the gangster, “but I just can’t stand it when somebody doesn’t obey the rules. That’s one thing I cannot tolerate.” “I can see that,” says the mechanic.
Now imagine those lines being rendered as part of an opera. The gangster is rapping in a rhythmic, jagged, Brech-tian speech-song, leaping from low growls to high-pitched squeaks, while the mechanic responds with a sweet, bel-canto whimper. “You like pornos?” growls the gangster, suddenly changing the subject. “Give you a boner?” “No thank you, sir,” sighs the mechanic, in his prettiest operatic voice.
It’s both terrifying and hilarious, like watching Lynch’s already disorientating film noir being played through a wobbly circus mirror. Welcome to the rehearsal studios of English National Opera…”
The opera was written by Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth. It premiered in her home town of Graz, in 2003, and was performed last year at Miller Theatre in co-production with Columbia University. Lynch gave his full support to the adaption, and the outcome gets a thumbs-up, according to a New York Times review: “The resulting score is enigmatic and labyrinthine, constantly morphing from one thing to the next. Ms. Neuwirth … knows how to bend and twist sound like no other.”
It will interesting to see how the work is received by UK critics. The opera opens on April 4 at the Young Vic. Full story
