Glass’s hypnotic masterpiece will keep you enthralled for hours; and hours; and hours…

You’ve probably heard about Einstein on the Beach. Four and half hours. No plot. No interval. Repetitive music. Come and go as you please, if you please. A man dressed as Einstein playing the violin. Repetitive, if you please, when you please. When you don’t please.

The music begins. A low drone, then: measured, with dignity, no rush, banal: one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, again, and again, and again, and again. The next scene’s train music starts. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s complex, yet simple, it’s oppressive and it’s breaking you down. For seventeen minutes. But perseverance is crucial. Like brainwashing, the first dance sequence turns the next four hours into a hypnotic, meditative, dream-like experience.

Einstein on the Beach was first conceived in 1976, as a collaboration between composer Philip Glass, director Robert Wilson, and choreographer Lucinda Childs. It challenges what we as audiences have come to accept as the operatic art form. It offers a vastly different way of relating to musical theatre and,...