lost highway is a 2003 opera adaptation of the 1997 david lynch film of the same name , by austrian composer olga neuwirth with the libretto by 2004 nobel prize-winner elfriede jelinek .

the opera was premiered in graz in 2003 at the steirischer herbst festival of new music with the live-electronics and sound design realized at the institute of electronic music and acoustics ( iem ) using the open source software pure data .

it made its american premiere at finney chapel in oberlin , ohio and at the miller theater in new york city in february 2007 , in a production performed by students from the oberlin conservatory of music .

it was directed by jonathon field , with sound design by tom lopez , produced by lewis nielson , and set design by scott dane knowles .

barry bryan portrayed fred madison .

it premiered in the uk in an eno production at the young vic in april 2008 .

this production was directed by diane paulus , with set and costume design by riccardo hernandez , video design by philip bussmann , lighting design by mimi jordan sherin and sound design by markus noisternig .

the cast included mark bonnar as fred madison , quirijn de lang as pete dayton , valérie maccarthy as renne/alice , christopher robson as the mystery man and david moss as mr eddy/dick laurent .

lost highway ( opera )

the maverick director ' s disturbing ' lost highway ' has been transformed into an opera . ivan hewett reports
but that ' s not how it seems to olga neuwirth , whose musical version of lost highway has its british premiere in a joint english national opera / young vic production next month .
quirijn de lang ( pete dayton ) and valerie maccarthy ( renne / alice ) in lost highway . photograph : tristram kenton
i ' ve always loved david lynch ' s films , ever since the elephant man ,
she says ,
but there was something really special about lost highway .
mr . lynch’s hypnotic exercise in non sequitur gives us a funhouse nightmare that we mostly look at on film and hear only secondarily . ms . neuwirth’s music gives us a funhouse nightmare in sound . “lost highway” the opera , for better or worse , is as distant from mr . lynch’s movie as verdi’s “otello” is from shakespearean iambic pentameter .
missing from “lost highway” the opera was mr . lynch’s sense of spaciousness and relative quiet : the time for events to breathe and unfold . his great movie does not yell at us as does ms . neuwirth’s opera . its anguishes are subterranean , more to be inferred from what is seen than transmitted through electronically bloated shrieks and groans . music , for all its idiosyncratic power , may be too concrete and ultimately too blatant to adequately translate mr . lynch’s indirections . yelling , on the other hand , is an art form like any other , and ms . neuwirth’s “lost highway” yells admirably . i would have admired it even more if , for just an hour and a half , i could have forgotten david lynch ever existed .
knowing more is usually helpful , but i suspect that olga neuwirth’s operatic take on “lost highway” at the miller theater on friday night will have had a better effect on those who don’t know david lynch ’s movie than on those who do .
le nozze di figaro :
cinque . . . dieci . . .
- - marlis petersen , ildar abdrazakov ( met opera )
the design is certainly impressive . running at floor level right through the audience at the young vic will be the
lost highway
down which fred ends up fleeing from the police . up above its central point there ' ll be a floating plexiglass box accessible by a retractable spiral staircase , surrounded on all four sides by video screens .
theatre - is launched with the uk premiere of olga neuwirth ' s lost highway . based on david lynch ' s 1997 film , neuwirth ' s theatre piece has travelled widely since it was first seen five years ago - mainly , one suspects , because lynch fans have been curious to discover how such a psychological thriller could be reinvented for the lyric stage .
the libretto is by ms . neuwirth and the writer elfriede jelinek . the nature of opera may have dictated their considerable condensations , reinventions and omissions of whole scenes and characters from the movie . if you don’t know the original , you will probably rejoice in the uncharacteristic swiftness and decisiveness with which the opera moves . if you do know it , you will feel uncomfortably hurried and prodded along , with series of episodes sometimes narrowed to the status of chapter headings .
the opera enlarges the movie’s use of background noise with a wavering stream of static that changes and contorts like the sounds of a shortwave radio dial being turned . some of the words are spoken , some sung , some are a mix of the two . ms . neuwirth’s rejection of traditional dramatic arcs is reflected in short scenes with blackouts and spoken phrases separated by silences .
diane paulus ' s production , in a set ( by riccardo hernandez ) that suspends the glass cube of the madisons ' flat above a stretch of anonymous highway , does its best to elucidate the narrative , though it is a mistake to suspend the video screens integral to neuwirth ' s concept so high above the audience that their imagery is often overlooked .
how very curious this urge is among composers to turn other kinds of art into operas . a kind of transubstantiation is assumed , whereby literary bread and wine take on a higher form , or at least one of equal worth . cynics would point to the publicity power of ready - made branding , and there is no arguing that tennessee williams or f . scott fitzgerald offer free billboard endorsements from beyond the grave . truer hearts believe in opera’s transformative powers , and i am happy to give ms . neuwirth the benefit of the doubt .
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5 singers , 6 actors ; 6 instrumental soloists : sax ( s , t , bar ) - cl ( = bcl , dbcl ) - trbn ( a , t , b ) - elec . git ( = hawaii git ) - accordion - kbd ( synth , elec . pft ) ; 2 ( i , ii = picc ) . 1 . 2 ( i = ebcl ) . 1 ( = dbn ) - 1 . 2 ( i = picctpt ) . 1 . 1 - perc ( 2 ) : i = glsp / sd / crot ( set ) / steel string / 2gongs / 2cowbells / sand bl ( lg ) / 1timp / wooden bl ( med ) / bd / tom - t ( med ) / tgl ( med ) / wdbl / thunder sheet ( thin ) / wine glass / beer bottle / tam - t ( lg ) / 1cym ( med ) / drum pad / stereo hand microphone ; ii = vib / sd / crot ( set ) / steel string / 2gongs / 2cowbells / sand bl ( med ) / 1timp / wooden bl / chimes / bd / tom - t ( lg ) / tgl ( sm ) / wdbl / thunder sheet ( thin ) / tam - t ( med ) / cym ( sm ) / t . bells / stereo hand microphone - strings ( 1 . 1 . 1 . 2 . 1 ( = elec . bass ) ) - sampler - live electronics - tape / cd player ; fl2 , ob , cl2 , bn also mouth org
is based on david lynch ' s famous film and tells the story of fred madison who becomes increasingly alienated from his own existence . doubts about his wife ' s fidelity , about himself , and ultimately about their own true identity lead increasingly to obsessions and to a continuous loss of reality . ominous videotapes and sinister figures appear and evoke the growing feeling of a horror scenario . video and reality also intermingle when , finally , fred , to his own surprise and fright , finds himself with bloody hands in front of his wife ' s dead body . he is arrested and sentenced for murder . in the death cell a mysterious transformation takes place : the saxophone player fred madison changes into a completely different person , the car mechanic pete dayton . the second part of this nightmare starts , with augmented speed , but is no less terrifying : like a perpetual whirl , from which no one can escape . . .
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ms . neuwirth , a young austrian composer , works hard and imaginatively to keep our attention . music arrives from every direction , hitting us head on or with flank attacks from electrical sound sources all around the theater . there is a pit orchestra leaning heavily toward winds and percussion . snippets of jazz , renaissance polyphony and a host of prerecorded effects pile one on top of the other . the ear can be shattered with big explosions and then soothed by calmer electronic burbles .
the production , largely from and by the oberlin conservatory of music , is small in square footage but hugely complex in its video and sound collages . jonathon field , the stage director , and tom lopez , the sound designer , managed them all very well . the set , with its odd angles and skewed geometry , was by scott dane knowles and giovanni campo . timothy weiss’s pit orchestra was terrific . youth suited the three good principals onstage : alice teyssier , michael weyandt and barry bryan . raphael sacks ( mr . eddy ) and chad grossman ( mystery man ) couldn’t help looking inappropriately young but worked hard and well .
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david lynch ii elfriede jelinek ii olga neuwirth ii natalia korczakowska ii marzena diakun more info : urltoken urltoken zagubiona autostrada na podstawie scenariusza davida lyncha i barry’ego gifforda libretto : elfriede jelinek , olga neuwirth muzyka : olga neuwirth reżyseria : natalia korczakowska asystent reżysera : jan topolski dyrygent : marzena diakun scenografia : anna met kostiumy : marek adamski choreografia / choreography : tomasz wygoda wideo : marek kozakiewicz światło : jacqueline sobiszewski współorganizator , koproducent : fundacja szabłowska studio obsada / cast : holger falk ( fred / pete ) , barbara kinga majewska ( alice / renee ) , david moss ( mr . eddie ) , piotr łykowski ( mystery man ) , michał sławecki ( andy ) , dariusz bronowicki ( al / detektyw lou / lekarz ) , rafał kronenbereger ( arnie ) , dariusz maj ( ojciec pete’a ) , andrzej olejnik ( strażnik / detektyw ed / detektyw hank ) , marta zięba ( matka pete’a ) . instrumentaliści nfm filharmonii wrocławskiej
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there are many films that seem to cry out for operatic treatment . brief encounter would make a good two - hander , or , if you wanted a grand love story with a chorus , captain corelli ' s mandolin might do the trick . but , if there ' s one film director whose work defies the lyric stage point - blank , it must surely be david lynch . there seems to be no purchase in his world of cold uncanny menace and weird obsessions for the warmth of the singing voice .
special
is one way of describing it - obscure and confusing might be another . even lynch ' s greatest fans have some trouble understanding its labyrinthine complexities . the film ' s first half is set in the strangely claustrophobic confines of an apartment , home to jazz musician fred madison and his wife renée . their passionless life is invaded by a sinister presence that delivers , unseen , intimate videos of their life to the couple ' s front door .
one of these shows the increasingly jealous fred murdering renée . but did he do it , or did he fantasise about doing it ? and , when fred mysteriously vanishes from the prison cell on death row , is the young garage - hand pete who appears in his place a genuine double , or merely fred ' s fantasy of the young virile man he ' d like to be ?
these ambiguities are precisely what fascinated neuwirth . if any composer could possibly create a music - theatre version of lynch ' s world , it would be this tiny , delicate but frighteningly intense austrian composer .
neuwirth is one of a new generation of talented austrian composers who seem determined to bury the idea of viennese music as nostalgic and ironic . her pieces are not musical statements in the normal sense . they ' re more like vast bottomless soundscapes that summon up the unease and disorientation of modern life with uncomfortable vividness .
so it ' s not surprising that lynch ' s film seemed a gift .
i love the way it plays with time ,
she says ,
and the way you cannot tell what is reality and what is fantasy . this fits in with my view of music - theatre , because i don ' t want to represent things in a naturalistic way . i wanted to create an endless loop of time , with little phrases that recur again and again .
what did lynch himself think of her idea ?
oh , he was so supportive to me , and he ' s so open to all kinds of music .
what neuwirth came up with is a vast soundscape in which the sound of 26 players and 11 singers and singing actors is mingled with video images and a synthesized soundtrack . snatches of kurt weill and magic moments and monteverdi add a further strangeness to the mix .
i wanted to blur the boundaries , so that you don ' t know which sounds are real and which are coming from the speakers all round the auditorium ,
says neuwirth .
it creates the effect of immersion in a kind of aural phantasmagoria .
diane paulus , the new - york based director of this production , admits the task of finding a theatrical analogue for lynch ' s quintessentially cinematic vision has been a challenge .
i knew i had to do something different ,
she says ,
and i knew we couldn ' t recreate all these different locations . so what i ' ve created with the designer philip bussmann is an installation , something that can transform into many different spaces by stimulating the audience ' s own powers of visualisation . that ' s the whole beauty of theatre : you have this live situation where the audience completes the work .
these screens might show an action in close - up ,
says bussmann ,
or they can be pete ' s garage , or the apartment . so , in effect , the audience can make their own cut or edit by going from the screen to the live action .
the result will certainly be powerfully discomforting and disorientating . but why should we want to submit to something that ' s apparently so negative ?
for neuwirth , the bleakness of the work is a testament to its truth .
it ' s about the tragic way our individual personalities can be destroyed by our own past . when fred is on death row he wants to forget , and for a moment he thinks he ' s escaped . but in the end his obsessions drown out reality . i think this is becoming a bigger and bigger danger for us as our lives become more complicated .
paulus takes a more hopeful view .
i don ' t feel that the energy of the piece is negative . in fact , it feels very compassionate . we can connect with fred , because his plight could happen to any of us . and isn ' t that why we come to the theatre , to experience some kind of catharsis or illumination ?
in pictures - the story of love and romance : from adam and eve to tinder and chemsex . compiled by martin chilton
in fact , neuwirth ' s text sticks closely to the original screenplay , making just a couple of significant alterations , and delivers most of it as speech : there is no singing at all in the first third of the 90 - minute piece . the baffling tale , involving what is known psychologically as psychogenic or dissociative fugue , unfolds as a sequence of disconnected scenes . jazz musician fred madison is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife , and while on death row he is transformed into garage mechanic pete dayton , who has his own problems with the underworld . whether the two men are one and the same , or just unwittingly connected , is never made clear .
the score involves live digital transformations for the ensemble and voices ; the resulting sounds are projected around the auditorium . it includes quotations - from kurt weill and a monteverdi madrigal - but otherwise the fine detail gets homogenised by the electronics , an aural emulsion that is generally just a neutral background to the speech and song .
eno ' s production is highly accomplished . the cast are outstanding , with mark bonnar as fred , quirijn de lang as his alter ego pete , the remarkable vocal gymnast david moss as the gangster mr eddy , countertenor christopher robson as the thuggish enforcer known as the mystery man , and valérie maccarthy as renee and alice , the girlfriends of fred and pete respectively .
if lynch ' s compelling storytelling survives its transformation , it is debatable whether that is because of neuwirth ' s score or in spite of it . but the show is worth seeing : this is contemporary european music theatre of a kind rarely staged in britain . for that , at least , eno ' s enterprise is very welcome .
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