Alternate Title Einstein on the Beach, An Opera in Four Acts
Production Language English
Country of Origin United States
Description One of the most iconic stage pieces of the 20th century, Einstein on the Beach remains Robert Wilson’s and Philip Glass's most famous work. In their first collaboration the two artists radically altered the way opera is made and received by upending conventions of score, plot and staging. While in much traditional opera these elements are constructed independently of one another, in Einstein the music, text and action were created together, in one seamless whole. Originally choreographed by Byrd Hoffman dancer Andy DeGroat, Lucinda Childs re-envisioned the movement in its 1984 revival, commisioned by BAM. Childs’ choreography was used in the 1992 and 2012 revivals. Wilson scholar, Bonnie Marranca, has written that the accomplishment of Einstein is that it “provides us with extraordinary frameworks and systems with which we can rediscover basic realities.”
Identifier 2012f.01084
