“Black Rider: The casting of the magic bullets” by TOM WAITS and WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, this Midwest Premiere is an opera like you have never experienced before. Featuring a haunting, operatic score by the one and only singer-songwriter, and actor Tom Waits and words by legendary writer, William S. Burroughs, this Faustian musical fable had its stage premiere in 1990, and was followed by an eponymous album title released on Island Records by Waits in 1993.
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The opera centers on the character of Wilhelm, a clerk, who is in love with a huntsman’s daughter, but must win her father’s approval by proving his worth as a marksman. He is offered magic bullets by Pegleg, the Devil, which he believes he can control. Based on elements of German folklore and Burroughs’ real-life “William Tell legend” tragedy, this RARELY produced opera presents an enigmatic tale of addiction and intrigue.