tgasloli- Thanks for your candor, I do appreciate it. I’m familiar with this autistic opacity of meaning of much of Wilson’s work, as that is a recurrent critique of his early and middle periods especially. For me, this opacity is only a problem if it serves as an *end* rather than a *means* to some kind of dramaturgical poetry that transcends the willful limitations of closed, opaque meanings; a dramaturgical poiesis however radical, however unforeseen or unanticipated.

Having listened to the Einstein score for 30 years now, and having seen some of Wilson’s other work in ’85 in Paris, I can relate to all of your observations. Thanks again.

Considering the piece premiered in ’76, I always felt that Laurie Anderson’s 80’s era deadpan narration-delivery style mirrored Lucinda Childs’ self-same vocal style in the “Prematurely Air-Conditioned Supermarket” speech as well as all of her other spoken text in Einstein.

A precursor to David Byrne’s Big Suit that he wore in SMS can be seen in photographs of one of the male characters wearing an almost identical suit in Wilson’s Death, Destruction and Detroit which premiered in Berlin in 1979.

As an aside, Eugene Ionesco once told a French journalist that when he attended rehearsals of his own plays, he considered the play a failure if he *didn’t* fall asleep.

😉

I wanted to pop in again briefly to sincerely thank *everyone* for their thoughtful and well considered comments re: the Einstein previews. This whole range of feedback is exactly what I was hoping to read. Here’s an additional ‘opinion poll’ question: based on your Einstein experience, would you agree that Dallas’ largely culture-hungry performing arts audiences would be benefitted by bringing the show here to Dallas, or no?

Thank you all again, and please keep the comments coming.

I’m writing this from Dallas, TX, where I am eagerly and avidly following your posted comments re: the Einstein previews this weekend. I’ve been a Wilson-Glass devotee for 30 years and am currently trying to help find a way to bring Einstein here to Dallas, as I’m sure that the artistic underground and performing arts culturati here are ready for it and would eat it up with a spoon.

Please describe more about how the abstraction of the piece affected you. Did you have to go through an initial period of boredom or confusion before you experienced any sort of transcendent epiphany while experiencing the piece and if so, how long did any boredom or confusion last? Did you feel that there were too many longeurs in the piece where your interest level was too difficult to sustain, or no? Did you experience any kind of transcendent epiphany at all? Did you think that the whole thing was overblown, overhyped, a waste of money-time, etc.?

Personally, I’m totally psyched by the positive comments thus far, so Let ‘Em Fly, Comrades. Inquiring Minds In Dallas Want To Know. And Thank You Very, Very Much.

Mark-

More clarification: the addition of “…on Wall Street” which was the original working title of “Einstein on the Beach” referred to the fact that the first working rehearsals and previews in ’75-’76 took place in a big, warehouse like performing space that was located, ironically, downtown on Wall Street in NYC. The choice of words in the title are wholly literal, in other words. Another mystery solved. 😉

Mark-

Why is Einstein on a beach in the first place? Because that was the literal caption underneath an actual photo of Einstein visiting a beach that Wilson came across as he was doing his visual research for the opera. It’s a well known image. Mystery solved. 😉