Philip Glass Hydrogen Jukebox A Chamber Opera -Poetry by Allen Ginsberg- Avantgard opera (Program Notes attached)

Hydrogen Jukebox is the result of a fascinating collaboration between avant-garde composer Philip Glass and Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg after a chance meeting at St. Mark’s bookstore in New York in 1988. Glass invited Ginsberg to join him in a performance to benefit Veterans of the Vietnam war. At the performance, Ginsberg read his anti-war poem Wichita Vortex Sutra while Glass improvised at the piano. This began a collaboration that would result in the Chamber Opera Hydrogen Jukebox that was premiered at the Spoleto Festival in 1990. The phrase “hydrogen jukebox,” had a deep personal significance to Allen Ginsberg as it summed up the entire idea of America’s sensory overload with the military industrial complex. In this collaboration, Ginsberg and Glass chose poetry written from the end of World War II, through the height of the cold war, and until the Berlin Wall Fell. The poems focus on complex societal topics such as protest, violence, environmental destruction, drugs, endless war, and sexual identity. All told from the perspective of an artist who considered himself an outcast in his own country. Hydrogen Jukebox is a difficult work to categorize. It has been described as a portrait of America, a melodrama, chamber opera, and a staged song-cycle. The work is not a linear story, but rather a series of vignettes. [id245738630|*Miami] University Performing Arts Series & MU Opera Theater presents Hydrogen Jukebox Music by Philip Glass Poetry by Allen Ginsberg Streaming from November 20th-December 5th, 2021 CAST AND FILM CREW Jeremiah Plessinger as Allen Ginsberg Michaela Woodbrey as Naomi Ginsberg Caleb Orr as Eugene Ginsberg Andrew McLeese as Neal Cassady Kate Trybus as Carolyn Cassady Aaron Garner as Jack Kerouac Paige Chapman as Stella Kerouac Lauren Maynus as Joyce Johnson Mike Rellick as William Burroughs Joseph Browning as The General Nate Wilkens as The Capitalist Flower Children: Anna Greco, Cari Sullivan, Ellie Wilmes, Kat Ullery, & Madison Wells Evan Lusht as Young Ginsberg Cody Szarko as Dancer Ginsberg and Father Death John Litzler as Peter Orlovsky Hippie Extras: Isabella Gaskill, Caroline Cruise, and Avery Pinta ORCHESTRA Steve Goers, Synthesizer Benjamin Smolder, Piano Michael LaMattina, Percussion Rebecca Andres, Flute Eric Wurzelbacher, Sax