Grendel June 1, 2006

The world premiere of Grendel unveils a richly layered, highly emotional score in an astonishing visual world utilizing film, puppetry and masks. In the title role, bass Eric Owens is the killer who can't control his own instincts. Denyce Graves is the cynical Dragon who reveals Grendel's inevitable role as the eternal enemy. Laura Claycomb is the queen whose beauty washes away the hostilities of sworn foes. Tenor Jay Hunter Morris is the warrior who fails in his quest to slay the beast, and tenor Richard Croft is the Shaper, whose sly songs put a spin on reality to inspire Grendel's adversaries.

A passionate thinker trapped in the body of a beast, Grendel struggles to transcend his condition in a quest for meaning and purpose. With a gripping libretto co-written by Julie Taymor and J.D. McClatchy, based on a novel by John Gardner, Grendel recasts the Beowulf epic from the monster's point of view.