''1000 Airplanes on the Roof'' is a melodrama in one act by Philip Glass which featured text by

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yell ...

and projections by Jerome Sirlin. It is described by Glass as "a science fiction music drama". The work was commissioned by the Donau Festival,

Krems an der Donau Krems an der Donau () is a town of 23,992 inhabitants in Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria. It is the fifth-largest city of Lower Austria and is approximately west of Vienna. Krems is a city with its own statute (or ''Statutarst ...

, The American Music Theater Festival,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, and West Berlin City Council in 1988. It premiered on July 15, 1988, at the Vienna Airport in Hangar #3. The performance featured vocals by

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

and was conducted by Michael Riesman. The US premiere took place in September 1988 at The American Music Theater Festival, Philadelphia and went on to play in 40 US cities and Canada, including New York,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and Toronto, as well as Glasgow, Scotland during that city's celebration as European City of Culture.

Synopsis

The drama is set in New York City with a sole character, "M", who recalls encounters with extraterrestrial life forms, including their message:

It is better to forget, it is pointless to remember. No one will believe you. You will have spoken a heresy. You will be outcast.

In the staged production, "M" performs in the midst of a three-dimensional,

holographic Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...

set. In the classic sense of the word melodrama, the role is performed by an actor in a spoken monologue over music. Although in the world premiere, "M" was played by a male actor, the character was played alternately by female actor Jodie Long and male actor Patrick O'Connell in many of the US performances.''FOB and Other Plays'', Plume, 1990

Recording

*''Philip Glass: 1000 Airplanes on the Roof'' (The Philip Glass Ensemble and Linda Ronstadt; Martin Goldray, Music Direction), 1989. Virgin 86106-2

Book

The libretto and images of the original set are published in: *Philip Glass, David Henry Hwang and Jerome Sirlin (Introduction by John Howell), ''1001 Airplanes on the Roof'', Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Book, 1989

Synopsis

Recording

Book

References

Further reading