Buy Tickets

What to wear

Jan 15—Jan 17, 2026
Next Wave
BAM and Prototype by BMP

Present

What to wear
Direction, Libretto and Production by Richard Foreman
Music by Michael Gordon
Conducted by Alan Pierson
Creative Direction by Paul Lazar and Annie-B Parson
In 2006 the downtown theater renegade Richard Foreman, who penned over 50 plays and nine operas across five decades, teamed up with renowned experimental composer Michael Gordon for a new collaboration. What came was a bitingly funny post-rock opera skewering the superficial pressures of society.

Now, in its New York debut as part of Next Wave 2025 and Prototype Festival, What to wear is remounted for the first time in 20 years, returned to its original Richard Foreman staging by Big Dance Theater co-founders Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar. Audiences have a unique opportunity to see an original Richard Foreman production brought carefully back to life. In Foreman and Gordon’s pageant of seductiveness gone wrong, beauty gives way to something more transcendent—and our contemporary world of fast fashion and influencer culture renders their acerbic critiques still cutting and relevant as ever. A collaboration between BAM, Beth Morrison Projects, Prototype, and Bang on a Can, this historic re-staging honors Foreman's trailblazing legacy, and confirms Gordon’s ceaseless musical vitality. .

Original Production by Cal Arts Center for New Performance

    

ONSALE DATES

Thu, May 15 at 1pm
BAM Member and Patrons

Thu, May 22 at 1pm
General Public

UPCOMING Performances

      VENUE

      BAM Strong
      Harvey Theater

      TICKET INFORMATION

      Tickets start at $25

      Please note: All online orders are subject to a $2 facility fee and $7.50 handling fee per ticket; all orders at the box office are subject to a $2 facility fee per ticket.

      BAM Members & Patrons receive 20% off tickets through June 30, 2025. No promo code needed.

      All performances will adhere to protocols developed in accordance with New York State regulations and in consultation with medical professionals for the safety of our artists, audiences, and staff.

      Leadership support for
      BAM’s strategic initiatives provided by:

      Mellon Foundation

      Leadership support for
      BAM Access Programs provided by
      the Jerome L. Greene Foundation

      JL Greene

      Leadership support for
      BAM programming provided by:

      Howard Gilman

      Leadership support for
      theater at BAM provided by
      The Shubert Foundation, Inc. and
      The SHS Foundation

      Leadership support for
      Next Wave 2025 provided by
      National Endowment for the Arts

      Support for
      theater at BAM provided by
      The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and
      Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater

      Additional support for
      opera and theater at BAM provided by
      The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust

      Additional support for
      theater at BAM provided by
      David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation

      • “A visionary musing on beauty, vanity and the nature of admiration”
        — Variety
      • “Foreman is the mind-roiling warlock of avant-garde drama”
        — The New York Times

      YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY

      SUPPORT BAM