HRUšalk, an opera a go go (1964)

Dick Higgins’s Hrušalk, a collage pastiche of Slavic operas, took place at the Cafe au Go Go, Bleecker Street, New York, December 7th, 1964.  Participants included: Phillip Corner, Lette Eisenhauer, Al Hansen, Carol Bergé, Benjamin Patterson,  Roy Lichtenstein, Florence Tarlow, Norma Marder, Lisa Null, Jackson MacLow, Yvonne Rainer, Nam June Paik, Anna Marie Wilson,  Alison Knowles, Chieko Shiomi,

Yvonne Rainer backstage at Hrušalk wearing a lead brassiere constructed by Robert Morris, 1964. Photograph by Peter Moore; © Northwestern University.

"In December 1964 Dick Higgins produced an opera, Hruslk, at the Cafe au Go Go. In preparation he asked a number of artist friends to choose a character, costume, and action. On the basis of our responses he devised a script and cast himself as the ma

Yvonne Rainer performing as "The Low Element " in Hrušalk, 1964. ph by Peter Moore; © Northwestern University.

"I asked Dick to introduce me with “The Low Element attempts to hoist herself on her own petard,” upon which I tried to lift myself up off the floor by grasping my hands behind my knees, finally exploding with a prolonged yell. Since I spent most of the evening backstage, I remember Roy Li

Roy Lichtenstein as the Spear Bearer in Hrušalk, 1964. Photograph by Peter Moore; © Northwestern University.

"The Spear-Bearer (Roy Lichtenstein, who devised a magnificent suit of armor) was at liberty to appear whenever it seemed desirable to evoke the knight. While the circumstances of his demise are not explained during Hrušalk, he was also present as a ghost in the final chorus" - Dick Higgins,

Armor, Installation view at Jason McCoy Gallery, 2021. Exhibition titled after Lichtenstein's Spear-Bearer costume from Hrušalk. 

Florence Tarlow as The Caucasian Princess in Hrušalk, 1964. Photograph by Peter Moore; © Northwestern University.

Jackson MacLow (L) as Mr. Generalsan and Al Hansen as Siegfried in Hrušalk, 1964. Photograph by Peter Moore; © Northwestern University.

Al Hansen as Sigfried from Hrušalk, 1964. On the cover of  Hansen's book, A Primer of Happenings & Time/Space Art (1965). Photograph by Peter Moore; © Northwestern University.