It has been nearly 20 years since the first musical presentation of The Rite of Jupiter graced the stage of The Vogue, a nightclub in Seattle, Washington in March of 2001. For a bit of context, when composition and rehearsals began for that first performance, William Jefferson Clinton was still the President of the Untied States.
Since then, slowly and deliberately, a group of performers, artist and magicians has adapted each of Aleister Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis into a series of musical theater presentations. In turn each of these Rites has been recorded and presented in video format. On Friday, May 1st the final video (and the first of the Rites by their internal chronological design) will be released. The videos will be available as digital download from Vimeo, as well as DVD or streaming from Amazon. (Advanced copies of the DVD can be ordered now.)
The Rite of Saturn is the beginning of a cycle of seven individual Planetary Rites that collectively comprise The Rites of Eleusis. Written and performed by occultist Aleister Crowley, these Rites scandalized the city of London in the fall of 1910, contributing to Crowley’s infamous reputation as The Wickedest Man in the World.
This musical adaptation of The Rite of Saturn incorporates the esoteric themes and culturally challenging world views presented by Crowley into a format that lends itself to the grandiose and nuanced nature of these plays. The creative team at Eleusyve Productions deftly incorporates the complete and unedited dialog of this ritual drama into a rock opera featuring all original music and staging that further illuminates the dramatic narrative.
Shot over the course of several performances and edited to capture the salient points of this ambitious adaptation, this film captures the very best of the theatrical production as it was staged in September of 2018.
This video presentation of The Rite of Saturn was awarded “Best In Musical” as the Inaugural Midway Multicultural Music and Arts Festival in February.
Links:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/ritesofeleusis
https://ritesofeleusis.com/midway-fest-awards-ceremony/
