"Soldier Songs" To Screen At The County Theatre In Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Opera Philadelphia's acclaimed film by David T. Little, "Soldier Songs," screens at The County Theatre in Doylestown on Nov. 12.

Since its 2021 streaming premiere, "Soldier Songs" has collected audience and critical acclaim as well as major award recognition.

The film was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, and this month it is a finalist for both the 2022 International Opera Award for Best Digital Opera and the inaugural Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera from Opera America.

Based on interviews with veterans from five wars, "Soldier Songs" weaves opera, rock, and film into a stirring and innovative examination of trauma, exploitation, and the difficulty of expressing war’s painful truths. Baritone Johnathan McCullough directs and stars as the Soldier in the film, which was recorded on location at the Brandywine Conservancy in Chester County by the site of a significant Revolutionary War battle of 1777.

The film, called “an immersive experience that takes the audience on a terrifying dive into the mind of a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder” by the Wall Street Journal, will screen this month in five area movie theaters: Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, and on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute in Delaware County; the County Theater in Doylestown, Bucks County; Ambler Theater in Montgomery County; and Princeton Garden Theatre in Princeton, NJ.

The feature film is accompanied by Opera Philadelphia’s 2021 short film, "TakTakShoo,"

composer Rene Orth’s fusion of opera and K-pop, marimba, electronics, and dance, that creates
an eclectic sound and movement world.

With a libretto by playwright Kanika Ambrose, the film stars mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi as an energizing life force inviting people to come into the world anew and is directed by Emmy Award-nominated director and choreographer Jeffrey L. Page.

Looking ahead, December brings James Darrah’s 2021 film of Poulenc’s "La voix humaine" starring Patricia Racette, which tells the story of a woman grappling with grief, denial, and anger in the face of unrequited love, all shared through a one-sided telephone call.

January brings the theatrical premiere of Little’s newest opera "Black Lodge," a Twin Peaks-inspired 2022 film “pushing the boundaries of what opera is” (Broadway World).

Each film will screen at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute in Delaware County; The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Chester County; the County Theater in Doylestown; Ambler Theater in Montgomery County; and Princeton Garden Theatre in Princeton, NJ.