WILSONIAN MODEL AVANT-GARDE FIGURE'S WORK HITTING L.A. THEATER, MUSEUM SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

You might think local audiences have had enough of avant-garde director-designer Robert Wilson. After all, he had back-to-back productions of ``Parsifal'' and ``Madama Butterfly'' at the Los Angeles Opera from mid-November through mid-February. Yet two downtown institutions are betting that L.A.'s culture vultures remain unsated when it comes to digesting Wilson's work.

In early February, a touring retrospective devoted to the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi designed by Wilson opened at the Japanese American National Museum, where it will remain through May 14. And Wednesday, ``The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets,'' a collaboration with singer-songwriter Tom Waits and counterculture icon William S. Burroughs, opens at the Ahmanson Theatre for a run through June 11.

Though Wilson's fame in America is considerable in certain circles, his work has been more warmly embraced in Europe. But even those dismissive of his aesthetic trademarks - stark designs, formalized movement, evocative lighting - recognize Wilson's singularity.

``Whether he offers the most trenchant or dramaturgical exploration of a classic opera or play, or whether he's lapsed into a lacquered mannerism, that's a legitimate question. But he does have a style, with stage props and light-creating pictures,'' says John Rockwell, the chief dance critic of The New York Times and a longtime Wilson watcher whose personal experience with the director's work dates to the mid-1970s.

Wilson, a native of Waco, Texas, first attracted attention as part of New York's downtown arts scene in the late 1960s. By 1976, he, along with Philip Glass, had created a cultural touchstone, the opera ``Einstein on the Beach.'' But in the ensuing years, Wilson increasingly turned to Europe for funding and opportunities.

Bastions of edgy high culture like the Brooklyn Academy of Music have long given him an American toehold - his four-hour adaptation of Ibsen's ``Peer Gynt'' just concluded an engagement there. But until a few years ago, Wilson couldn't get arrested in Southern California.

That wasn't how things were supposed to be. In 1984, the year L.A. hosted the Olympics, a sprawling work called ``the CIVIL warS,'' Wilson's boldest project ever, was to be staged here. Money problems scuttled the debut and strained relations between the city and the director.

``After that, I thought I'd never work in L.A.,'' said Wilson recently by phone from Paris. ``And suddenly, it's the one place in the United States where my work can be seen. The Chinese say, `Don't run after your horse and it will come back of its own accord.' ''

What the director doesn't mention is the stillborn ``Monsters of Grace.'' He worked on this project, which combined film and live performance, between the aborted ``CIVIL warS'' and his current work. Best-known for reteaming the director and Glass, the production, which had its premiere at UCLA's Royce Hall in April 1998, found favor with no one and left many Angelenos dubious about Wilson's stature.

Only in 2004, when the L.A. Opera presented his production of Puccini's ``Butterfly'' did Wilson's genius become apparent to locals, with ticket sales for the run breaking company records.

But his triumph was by no means assured.

Even those who admire Wilson's work often admit they can't explain it. That's partly because Wilson's artistry is fundamentally rooted in abstraction. For this, he makes no apologies, although he acknowledges the difficulties that his aesthetic poses.

``Abstraction has now become a part of our vocabulary in opera,'' he says. ``And it's not new. But, by and large, people have trouble with that. We're so used to opera telling us a story, with gestures that are psychological and naturalistic. But a movement can have its own purity - with the music, against the music, just on its own.''

Not exactly the sort of talk that will have fans of Tom Waits rushing the Ahmanson box office. But wait. Despite his reputation for the cerebral, not everything Wilson touches is aimed at intellectuals. And with music and lyrics by Waits and text by Burroughs (who died in 1997), ``The Black Rider'' is clearly intended for a broad - dare we say hip? - audience.

``It's a piece that can appeal to all kinds of people, all ages, for young kids and older people. I don't think it has to be the same crowd that goes to an opera,'' says the director, who is also responsible for this show's design and lighting.

The musical's story is based on the same material that inspired the benchmark German Romantic opera ``Der Freischutz,'' by Carl Maria von Weber. ``It's a 17th-century German ghost story,'' says Wilson. ``Weber made it a happy ending. Ours goes back to the original text, where everyone ends up in a madhouse. The show opens with the words, `Come along with the Black Rider; you'll have a gay old time.' In a way, it's a little Tim Burton-like.''

``The Black Rider'' dates from 1991, but it wasn't mounted in America until 2004. It marks the first of Wilson's three collaborations with Waits, the others being ``Alice'' (1992) and ``Woyzeck'' (2002), which was presented at UCLA Live! the year of its premiere.

Perhaps other joint efforts will follow, for Wilson clearly has high regard for Waits, and his common touch. ``He is one of the great songwriters and lyricists and musicians working right now,'' says the director. ``And Tom's work can appeal to someone on the street.''

Some may think Wilson's involvement with a museum exhibit strange for a man of the theater, but his connection to Noguchi, who was also a multifaceted designer, runs deep.

``I knew Noguchi somewhat,'' he says. ``I saw his work for Martha Graham in New York and said, `Wow, all this garbage we have and here are just two ropes on a stage.' '' Wilson lauds the Japanese tendency to honor all superior craftsmen, no matter how humble their work.

`In Japan, you can be a national treasure for designing a tea bowl,'' he says. ``Look at Noguchi's rocking chair for Graham's `Appalachian Spring.' It can stand on its own. Is it sculpture? Marcel Breuer (the great architect and furniture designer) said, `In this chair are all my aesthetics, whether designing a chair, a building or even a city.' I feel the same about my work. It's all a part of one concern. I think Noguchi is an inspiration to me, though our aesthetics are different in some ways.''

Besides, this is hardly Wilson's first foray off the stage. He calls such efforts ``a kind of choreography for the public,'' noting, ``I did the Armani show at the Guggenheim, and I won the Venice Biennale sculpture award in 1993. I also designed a handbag for Louis Vuitton and did all the store windows. I've even worked with Madonna.''

THE BLACK RIDER

What: Robert Wilson's ghostly production, with music from Tom Waits and words by William Burroughs.

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, with day and evening performances on most Sundays; through June 11.

Tickets: $40 to $95. [phone], or www.taperahmanson.com, where a detailed schedule is also available.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Robert Wilson's ``The Black Rider'' springs from a 17th-century German ghost story - with a less-than-happy ending.

(2 -- color) ``The Black Rider'' made its debut in 1991 and first came to America in 2004. Not quite opera - and certainly not musical theater in the commonly accepted sense - it makes its Los Angeles bow at the Ahmanson Theatre.