SUMMARY:  The life story of Albert Einstein, as told via 1980s music and a chorus of 1980s-fashion-clad Chorus members.  After all, Einstein was a child of the 80s - the 1880s. We begin with Albert being turned down for a Nobel Prize, as the prize committee cannot quite decipher all the implications behind "E=mc2" - "and besides, you're a Jew."  We go back to his childhood.  Young Albert's parents don't understand him but love and support him nonetheless.  His cousin and sister spend time bouncing a ball against his head while he sits and contemplates.  His father tries to get him interested in sports, but settles for having Albert agree to sit and contemplate outdoors.

Photos by Scott Golden

SUMMARY:  Young Albert is shy and awkward around girls - especially his cousin Elsa.  The two have known each other all their lives, and are mutually attracted to one another, but Albert's mother warns of the deformities that could come of "cousin babies."  Still, when left alone to play together, Elsa attempts to court Albert, and the two end up kissing.  They are discovered by Albert's parents; his mother is outraged and forbids the two to ever see each other again, but his father is secretly thrilled that Albert is showing any interest in girls at all.  As Albert sits slumped with his first ever broken heart, a Chorus member tells him they can just skip forward to the future... to the fateful day when he makes his greatest discovery: the Theory of Relativity.

Photos by Marian Gonazlez

SUMMARY:  Albert wants to become a scientist, but as a patent clerk, he is mocked by the scientists he idolizes.  To impress them, he spends ten years of his life trying to figure out the nature of Space and Time.  He finally comes up with E=MC2, the Theory of Relativity.  The haughty scientists admit that it's an elegant theory, but are still unimpressed: it needs to be proven.  And a Chorus tells Albert the sobering fact that his theory's proving ground turned out to be a weapon, used at Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  Albert, horrified, refuses to believe it.  Who would do that?  Shaken, he prepares to be shown more of his future...

Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  To the strains of "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Albert is horrified to learn that not only did his theory lead to the creation of the atomic bomb, but that he himself was one of many physicists who urged FDR to develop the bomb.  In contravention of the laws of time travel, Albert insists the Chorus take him back in time to change things, but he finds himself unable to persuade FDR to stop the project.  To the strains of "The Kids in America," Albert learns that though the bomb changes the world, it doesn't change how people think.  The Chorus decide to show Albert another part of his life, revealing that he and his cousin Elsa would eventually begin a romance... but not until after he is already married to Mileva Marić.

Photos by Marian Gonzalez

SUMMARY:  Berlin, 1912.  Albert is cruel to his first wife, Mileva, breaking her heart as he embarks on an affair with his cousin Elsa. Mileva sings of her heartbreak as she endures a "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  We meet the villain of the story, German scientist Philipp Lenard, Nobel Prize winner for his research on cathode rays and member of the Nazi Party.  Lenard is jealous of Albert's newfound popularity and is skeptical of the Theory of Relativity... and the fact that Albert is Jewish adds fuel to his fire.

Photos by Aaron Francis