An "Einstein's Begonia" Musical Debut

On the afternoon of September 7, the line of fans extended out the door as I smuggled the star of the show into the Princeton Public Library's community room for the debut of a musical called "Einstein's Begonia." I imagined outstretched hands clamoring for a piece of the coveted house plant that traced its lineage back to the begonia Einstein had left behind after he died in 1955. Fortunately, this most special of angelwing begonias made it to the stage unscathed, to pose ever so patiently while singer/songwriter Rebecca Pronsky led her 7 piece group through a progression of witty and moving songs about a leafy piece of Einstein's legacy. The Friends of Herrontown Woods had suggested the library host the show, and co-sponsored the event. 

How many musicals have a plant as the main character? And in this case, the plant isn't out to do damage, like in Little Shop of Horrors. Rather, this begonia is lonely, trying to understand where it came from and where it's going, now that the beloved man it thought of as a father is gone.

The musical began its life as a song cycle, ostensibly about a plant with provenance, yet the lyrics touch upon feelings deep within us. Behind a plant's facade of static green, Rebecca finds a dynamic world of growth and longing. In Am I You?, there's the deep desire to belong, to be a part of something greater than ourselves, to find one's true home. Sessile Vessel is a saucy number about just how dynamic a plant can be while stuck in the ground. Only a Plant first explores the downside of being stuck in a pot, then morphs into a rant about cooking and consumption from a plant's perspective. Particularly clever is another song's lyric, "everyone wants a piece of me," referring to the way cuttings of the stem are used to propagate this popular house plant.

As someone who works with plants, I've long felt that the plant world is the physical manifestation of our inner world. There's a point where we stop growing physically, and yet we continue to grow inside--spiritually, intellectually, emotionally. A tree does that for all to see, from the day it sprouts to the day it dies, each year extending its roots and branches, adding a new flush of leaves, building on what it was before.

Though the lyrics have a lot of word play and references to high intellect, the musical never loses its connection to gut feeling. The song Relativity embeds human emotion in the language of physics. Einstein's Constant becomes a song about the need we all have for stability and support as we seek to grow. In Hybrid, Einstein's Begonia finds through her origins a liberating way forward. 

The story of how Brooklyn-based Rebecca Pronsky and scriptwriter Alexis Roblan brought the show to Princeton is worth telling. Rebecca and I each separately learned of the existence of Einstein begonias in 2021. My first encounter with the plant and the lineage behind it came in an email from the Princeton Public Library's Kim Dorman. Since I blog about nature and Einstein-related history, she wondered if I might be able to track down an Einstein begonia for a friend of hers. Never having heard of an Einstein begonia, I began looking online to find out more. Turned out it was a thing. When Einstein died, he left behind an extraordinary legacy of course, but also an angelwing begonia that his secretary, Helen Dukas, proceeded to make cuttings of to give to friends, many of whom were mathematicians and physicists. Cuttings of the begonia then spread from home to home, office to office, in Princeton and beyond. Via the internet, I found a friend who had an Einstein begonia, Vicky Bergman, whose husband was a physicist. She gave me some cuttings to give to Kim’s friend. I posted about all of this on my blog, and started getting thousands of page views. One of the comments was from Rebecca, who said she was composing a musical about the plant.

Rebecca told me how she first encountered an Einstein begonia:

My story is actually that just after my father passed away, I went to visit his 90 year old cousins in Cranford, NJ and we were taking a walk in their garden when they pointed out a plant and said “and that’s Einstein’s Begonia.” They told me what they knew about it but I had so many more questions. Still I was immediately inspired to write from the point of view of the plant losing it’s “father,” since I was going through something similar and I had a lot of experience with plants. It was instantly clear to me that this would be my next project. I was looking for info on it to begin drafting the plot of the show and came upon your post, so that’s how I think we were initially connected!

To convert a song cycle into a full blown musical, Rebecca and Alexis wanted to learn as much as they could about the route the begonia took from Einstein's home out into the community. I was able to track down the origin story thanks to Norma Smith, whose husband also is a physicist, and Rebecca mapped out lineage. The Princeton Alumni Weekly took an interest and wrote an article about Norma, Rebecca, and the begonia. I guess you can say we recovered a story that might otherwise have been lost, and Rebecca has used it to create a new story. 

What began as a librarian's email to me about Einstein begonias led four years later to a performance of Einstein's Begonia at the Princeton Public Library. Janie Hermann, curator of events at the library and in the photo below, coordinated all the aspects, from the sound system to managing the waitlist for the sold-out show.

EINSTEIN’S BEGONIA was named a semifinalist in the 2025 O’Neill National Musical Theatre Conference. The performance at the library was a reading of a work in progress. The next step for Rebecca and Alexis is applying for musical theatre development and reading opportunities. A return to Princeton for PiDay has been discussed, but nothing confirmed as yet. In the meantime, read more about the show and listen to the songs here.

Photos by Inge Regan and Janie Hermann