In early 1998, Georg, Abi, and I wrote Atreus Dawn, a ritual electronic musical that retold the story of Iphegenia’s sacrifice at the hands of her father, Agamemnon. The musical was performed on mainstage Leeds Theater at Brown University.

We wrote Atreus Dawn because collectively we hated anything and everything to do with musicals. But if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. We decided that if musicals had to exist, there might as well be a euro-techno meets crack-clowns-and-dancing-bears musical in the world.

Click to download the full instrumental recordings.

You can also check out the full cast recordings. The caveat is that we had exactly eight hours in the studio to finish them, so the quality is very much not ideal.

Eric Green, who designed Atreus Dawn’s abstract geometric set, keeps his own page of photographs and related information.

(You may notice some vocals and even some singing on the “instrumentals.” The vocals are of Den Mother, a character never seen on stage and hence pre-recorded and mixed directly with the tracks. The singing is in the background and helped ensure proper sonic balance during live performances; the cast typically duplicated the recorded lines but occasionally sang counterpoint.)

Track Listing

1. Overture
2. Dreams, Lies
3. Ritual to the Den Mother
4. Dreams, Lies Again
5. The Letter Home
6. Queen of His World
7. Falling Music
8. Underworld Ballet
9. Tales from a Sleeping Goddess
10. Mother’s Hymn
11. Atreus Dawn
12. Second Act Overture
13. Dreams, Lies Yet Again
14. Mighty King
15. The Letter Home (reprise)
16. Clytemnestra’s Fantasy
17. Tales from a Sleeping Goddess
18. The Love of a Half-God
19. The Argument
20. Pythia’s Passion
21. Surprise! Dreams, Lies
22. Ritual to the Den Mother
23. Aria