Content area
Full Text
Theatregoers in Germany's northern port city of Hamburg can't seem to get enough these days of Robert Wilson, whose newest piece of music theatre, Time Rocker, opened in June at the Thalia Theater. Appetites had already been whetted by the recent return to the theatre's repertory of The Black Rider, the Texas-born director's first smash hit, with its show-stopping music by Tom Waits. With Alice, Wilson's second collaboration with Waits, still running at the theatre, the director finds himself in the unenviable position of having to compete with himself as he launches Time Rocker, with a new musical collaborator, rock star Lou Reed.
Black Rider, which still continues to play to sold-out audiences, has become something of a legend in Hamburg. It was retired in September 1995 after roughly 120 SRO performances in Hamburg and critically acclaimed appearances in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna and Barcelona. The 153-year-old Thalia, widely regarded as one of Germany's most creative and experimental stages, revived Black Rider certain of its commercial success - no small consideration as the cashstrapped city-state of Hamburg continues to cut back...