07 December 2010

Einstein on the West Coast

Cal Performances drops a hint that its upcoming seasons will be as exciting as this one: from 19-28 October 2012 they will be presenting the West Coast premiere of the celebrated Philip Glass/Robert Wilson collaboration, Einstein on the Beach. More information here.

4 comments:

Robert said...

Let me elaborate:

!!

Seriously, this is a big deal. While EOTB isn't even one of my favorite Glass works, I think this will be a major artistic event. I can't wait to see it.

Patrick J. Vaz said...

Ah, now I see!

Yeah, I'm very excited about this, and I think Cal Performances is too, given that this isn't even happening for two years. And I think *seeing* it will be crucial (as opposed to just hearing the music), if it's anything like the other Wilson/Glass collaboration I saw years ago at ART in Cambridge -- the Civil Wars (that's not the correct capitalization, and there's a subtitle about a tree, but I'm not going to look them up now because I suspect you know what I'm referring to)

Civic Center said...

Patrick, if you're going to refer to your ART experience in Cambridge, you should look up the ridiculous capitalization and subtitle. It's "the CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down" which I'm sure you would have remembered if you hadn't been tortured all day at work.

The revived "Einstein" is actually a touring show, with stops scheduled so far in about six cities in the Western world.

I know two different people who have worked with Robert Wilson, and their backstage stories are deeply unkind. Still haven't seen his work in person, however, so let's say the jury is out.

Patrick J. Vaz said...

Why should I look it up when you're going to? Sometimes it's late at night, I'm in a hurry and my computer is achingly slow. Any readers are already on the Interwebs.

Ironically, if I'd done it by memory, I would have had it correct except for the last part of the subtitle, which I remembered as "when it is cut down."

The second link in my entry gives information about which cities are hosting the production. Almost everything Cal Performances presents is a touring show or performer.

I know one person who worked backstage with Wilson; he told me that he found it very frustrating at the time but later, when he was, as he put it, older and wiser, he understood and appreciated what Wilson was doing and how he was doing it.

But what people backstage think of him is basically irrelevant to me; my primary interest is in what ends up on stage. I have seen Wilson's work several times and would happily see another sample. Particularly this one, which is sort of ur-Wilson.