The 1976 production of Einstein at the Beach at New York's Metropolitan Opera. Photo: Babette Mangolte.

Jonathan Kalb‘s new book from the University of Michigan Press, Great Lengths: Seven Works of Marathon Theater, looks at seven contemporary theatrical works that test the extremes of duration, from Nicholas Nickleby and Angels in America to Einstein on the Beach and Peter Stein’s Faust. Asking “Why do some dramatic creations extend to five hours or more, and how does their extreme length help them accomplish extraordinarily ambitious aims?” Kalb considers these productions as places for meditation and contemplation. In this, they are not dissimilar to other musical and cinematic works, like Morton Feldman’s Second String Quartet (five to six hours long), Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s seven-hour Hitler: A Film from Germany, and even some plays by Howard Barker (The Bite of the Night at four-and-a-half hours; The Ecstatic Bible at seven hours), a few of which I noted in my post “Rothko Chapel” from two years ago; you can read this post here.

In the interview below for Yale University’s Theater magazine, which features a portion of the book in their new issue, Kalb discusses the inception of the project, our contemporary “abbreviated” culture, his own memories of productions like Einstein on the Beach, and also offers a wry observation or two about reviewing and criticism.