The film of composer Daron Hagen’s multimedia opera Orson Rehearsed is now in post-production with a spring 2021 release eyed.
A 90-second trailer was released online on June 27.
The work – conceived, composed, and directed by Hagen – debuted in its staged form at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago in September 2018. It starred Robert Orth, Robert Frankenberry, and Omar Mulero, each playing Welles at various points in his life.
In an interview with Wellesnet before the opera’s premiere, Hagen described Orson Rehearsed as “a 70-minute, multi-media, Joycean stream-of-consciousness dreamscape, comprised of the Zuzu’s petals-like memory shards of life, streaming through the mind of American filmmaker, actor, activist, and visual artist Orson Welles during the last hour of his life.”
Release plans call for the film to be available to audiences via streaming, broadcast, and festivals. A soundtrack will be released by Naxos Records.
Hagen is a prolific composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music for the concert hall and stage.
He is also a stage director, conductor, librettist, essayist, clinician, and collaborative pianist.
Described as a “composer born to write operas” (Chicago Tribune) whose music is “dazzling, unsettling, exuberant, and heroic” (The New Yorker), his opera Amelia was described as one of the 20 best operas of the 21st century by Opera News.
More information on Orson Rehearsed is available online at orsonrehearsed.art
Check out the trailer at https://vimeo.com/433221584
Orson Rehearsed Trailer from The New Mercury Collective on Vimeo.