Monsters of Grace 1.0: A Digital Opera in Three Dimensions

Monsters of Grace 1.0: A Digital Opera in Three Dimensions Monsters of Grace 1.0: A Digital Opera in Three Dimensions. By Philip Glass and Robert Wilson. Royce Hall, UCLA Center for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles. 18 April 1998.

The title for the new Philip Glass/Robert Wilson opera was inspired by a mistake. Originally entitled Masters of Grace, Wilson made a spelling error in his notes and decided to use that instead. The revised title, with irony added by chance, resonates in an era when claims to any "master" narrative have become suspect. Nevertheless, months before its world premiere, this project has been promoted as a "masterpiece" in the making. Publicity has capitalized on the name recognition of its creators for "the twentieth-century landmark" Einstein on the Beach (1976); the producer Jedediah Wheeler proclaims that this latest "major" collaboration by this celebrated duo will inaugurate "a twenty-first century form of theatre"; the Kleiser-Walczak Construction Company, which realizes Wilson's visual concepts in 3-D stereoscopic animation, promises to add an "unprecedented new dimension" in theatre presentation. These promotional tropes, like simulated "monsters" lurking in the wings, advertise the opera as a technological sequel to Einstein and a high art theatre counterpart to Jurassic Park, casting shadows of misguided anticipation that haunt the production.

The comparisons to Einstein and Jurassic Park...