NYTimes.com: SOME works of art become mythical, either because they are so important or because few people actually know them. “Einstein on the Beach,” the 1976 intermissionless four-and-a-half-hour opera by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass, qualifies on both counts. When “Einstein” opens a 10-day run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Sept. 14, it will be the first time New York has seen it in 20 years.
2 comments:
Really, no one?! Maybe because this article was long and had no videos.
This article brings up the really interesting questions of returning to a piece you haven't done in a while and trying to look at it with fresh eyes. Especially when considering the American musical theatre canon and the number of revivals of West Side Story, Oklahoma, etc. that one designer could be called upon to re-design over and over again in their career, it's important to develop the ability to look at a piece objectively and find the ways to delve into it. For Philip Glass and Robert Wilson, not performing in this production of Einstein allowed them the ability to consider the piece again, 20 years later, and talk about what's important and what should be changed. They chose, for example, that the historical references to the Hearst Trial and pop culture was integral to the "story" (as much as there is one in Einstein), but that in order to get a better sound in the chorus, the dancers and chorus could no longer be the same performers. They took the opportunity to take a step back, do an evaluation over their experience from the previous production, and take it forward into the latest one. It was fascinating to me how similar the side-by-side scenes were as posted on the Times website, but then again, as with Philip Glass' repetitive musical movements, maybe it's just the perfect aesthetic for the piece.
I wonder if the Romans worried about how dated popular references might be perceived as they staged the Greek classics. This is an interesting look at a culture of re-purposing that has been going on in art since my great uncle threw mud on the cave wall. This is piece seems ripe for such a revisiting. The theme of "genius" and it's simultaneously beautiful and terrifying nature is timeless, and maybe even more poignant to our time where technology is god. I only wish it was more than a 10 day run.
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