condition (record/cover): NM / EX+
A one-act "science fiction music drama" with libretto by David Henry Hwang (author of M. Butterfly) and holographic set projections by Jerome Sirlin. World premiere at Vienna International Airport, Hangar #3, on 15 July 1988. Commissioned by the Donau Festival, the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia, and the Berlin Cultural City of Europe programme. Single character, "M," a New Yorker who recalls being abducted by extraterrestrials and told to forget; the question of whether the encounter was real is never resolved.
The 1989 Virgin recording is by the Philip Glass Ensemble with Linda Ronstadt on vocals, Michael Riesman conducting, Martin Goldray as music director. Recorded at The Living Room (NYC) and Russian Hill Recording (San Francisco). The LP unusually omits the Hwang monologue (only the music was issued), which has left the recording somewhat detached from the staged work.
