The imagery is what stays with you after leaving the almost three-hour production of The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets, but I’m not sure if that’s the best thing that can be said for a musical. From the TV commercials, you might get the idea that the musical is melodic with a touch of vaudeville to be found.
There is a vaudeville atmosphere as well as some carny in this revival of Robert Wilson’s 1990 musical fable, an odd collaboration with Tom Waits (music and lyrics) and the late William S. Burroughs (book). Wilson, besides directing is credited with set and lights. The story is based upon an old Germanic tale that also inspired the German opera Der Freischutz (The Freeshooter) by Carl Maria von Weber and Friedrich Kind.
In Black Rider, a clerk (Matt McGrath) is in love with the huntsman’s daughter (Mary Margaret O’Hara). To gain her father’s approval for his suit, he must prove his ability as a hunter. Yet he’s a lousy shot and his rival (Nigel Richards) is not. The clerk, Wilhelm, makes a deal with the Black Rider (Vance Avery) who offers him magic bullets - bullets that will hit their mark no matter how bad the marksman. Yet there is one slight hitch - one bullet will be guided by the Black Rider himself. The opera had a happy ending, but this piece stays more true to the Germanic fairytale where there is no happily-ever-after ending.
One wonders about the material choice given that Burroughs, who was a drug addict, shot his lover in the head during an intoxicated William Tell act in Mexico City. He credits this event as his catalyst for becoming a writer. Yet perhaps the darkness and tragedy of Burroughs own life (he died in 1997) and the dysfunctional family he created also add to the aura surrounding this piece.
Article comments
1 - Thomas M. Sipos
I'd heard radio commercials for this play for months. I'd always thought they were saying, "The Black Writer."
2 - Purple Tigress
LOL!
A linguist would say that would be because Americans usually say both words the same way.
But you've also just gave a good reason why more money should be spent on a TV ad versus a radio ad.
3 - billy vidrine
I thought it was pretty durn lovely myself. And romantic. So *n'yah*!