Met Opera Choices, 2010-2011

[whipped guy]

...Cirque du Soleil performance, Rheingold...

Wagner is so long winded and can be so boring (to the unenlightened that is...) that a certain visual aspect is really mandatory in order to bring it to life for the majority of viewers. In that respect I think that his new Ring is going to be a winner... or at least I certainly have high hopes for it. I recall seeing the old Die Walkure production that was devised in conjunction with Herbert von Karajan years ago... and the scenery consisted of mainly a large disc-like object... and the magic fire was a red light-bulb. Needless to say... except for the "big" moments such as the Ride of the Valkyries and Wotan's Farewell, etc... the snoring almost drowned out the singing... no I take that back... the snoring definitely drowned out the singing!

 

The more recent "Realistic Ring" was much more visually friendly... but this new version might just be the perfect way to perform Wagner in the 21st century.

[leigh.bess.toad]

I recall seeing the old Die Walkure production that was devised in conjunction with Herbert von Karajan years ago.

 

The production with Birgit and the miner's lighted helmet??? God, I miss her. Trust me, as someone who took 30 years to finally get into Wagner after camping in the Italilan wing for so long I built a mansion, I know it can take either an effort or some serendipitous event to get someone into Wagner if they are not inherently pre-disposed to it. One place I've found very useful in cultivating that interest (as well as following the goings-on and gossip in the opera world) is at Parterre.com, where "Opera is King and the listeners are queens".. Our beloved hostess, La Cieca has an amazing collection of live historical recordings under the "Unnatural Acts of Opera" category that is amazing. There is a full "performance" of the Ring with each act of each opera performed by one historic cast after another. What really got me into Wagner was the 2 day tribute La Cieca had for Birgit on her death. The music was so transcendent that I just had to hear more. And then I was hooked. Sometimes that's all it takes. If you love opera and you don't know about parterre.com, I can't recommend it in high enough terms.

 

I'm just worried after the "catastrophe" that was the 2 year, 12-performance run of Tristan a few years ago (12 performances, 12 different casts, with several in-performance substitutions), I just hope a Wagner jinx hasn't moved into the Met. But I have high hopes for the new cycle. But for a newcomer to the Ring, I still think the Anna Russell is absolutely mandatory -- besides being hysterical it is also educational in some bizarre, perverted way.

 

Lee

[whipped guy]

Liebestod!

 

Lee... I just made sense out of your screen name!!!!

 

So you are "leigh.bess.toad" as opposed to "alberich.as.toad"...

[leigh.bess.toad]

Lee... I just made sense out of your screen name!!!!

 

So you are "leigh.bess.toad" as opposed to "alberich.as.toad"...

 

I thought that was better than "My friend Erda, the green faced torso" (as Anna Russell so correctly put it). I thought I'd have a little fun with it. Sorry if it confused you. Ten lashes for me with a wet noodle. Or whatever other instrument you would prefer to use :)

 

Lee

[whipped guy]

No need to apologize...

 

...Sorry if it confused you. Ten lashes for me with a wet noodle. Or whatever other instrument you would prefer to use :)

 

Lee

I just was a bit dense about it and really was not paying attention... then it hit me and I cracked up laughing! ... Plus it shows that you have a sense of humor... Well, anyone who likes that Anna Russell routine has to have a sense of humor! As for the lashes... after my last couple of weeks at the NY Bondage Club you had better stick with the wet noodle! ;)

[leigh.bess.toad]

I just was a bit dense about it and really was not paying attention... then it hit me and I cracked up laughing! ... Plus it shows that you have a sense of humor... Well, anyone who likes that Anna Russell routine has to have a sense of humor! As for the lashes... after my last couple of weeks at the NY Bondage Club you had better stick with the wet noodle! ;)

 

A sense of humor, warped as it is. As I said earlier, I doubt if there is a music major (regardless of the major and especially the voice & opera majors) anywhere in the country who didn't learn the Ring only because of Anna Russell. I know I did and everyone at my school did. and I'll bet most of us can still recite it word for word even today. She's the reason I'm looking forward to the opening 6-1/2 minutes of the E-flat major chord to start Rheingold. I'm just hoping the Met's new Rheingold has a nude "Alberich" swimming in the Rhine like the recent Copenhagen Ring.

 

As far as the lashes, I told someone earlier that I haven't gotten into the S&M scene -- yet. But what the hell, now is as good as time as any. So bring it, big boy :)

 

Lee

[+ honcho]

I have to cop out as being equally dense, not having gotten hominymiacal reference until Whipped pointed it out. I use the ID

cuirhautbois on some other sites, and, since I also do play English Horn and have in the piece so reference, I shouldda caught it.

 

I was not a music major, but my mom did have the record "Anna Russell sings. Again?" and listened to it often.

 

Never was in bed with the doctor though. ... (Oops... I did have a couple of dates with an M.D. a long time ago, but he wasn't *my* doctor)

[leigh.bess.toad]

II also do play English Horn and have in the piece so reference, I shouldda caught it.

 

Well, we always worried about the double reed players anyway. What with the reeds vibrating at different rates, we worried about the effects on the brain :) . I never knew a sane oboe player. (sorry, inside conservatory joke)..

[rossthebosssf]

If anyone makes it to Das Rheingold at The Met this coming week, please send me a report. I'm curious to go see it.

[Guest alanm]

If anyone makes it to Das Rheingold at The Met this coming week' date=' please send me a report. I'm curious to go see it.[/quote']

 

Das Rheingold is sold out, unless you plan to do standing room or you have a connection to get tickets.

 

But, there are a few relatively decent tickets available for "Die Walkure" in April/May. My guess is that all the Walkure tickets will be sold as well as soon as Rheingold opens next week.

 

I hate buying tickets so far ahead, but I finally bought a ticket for Walkure in the Dress Circle for May 9 -- the only day I knew for sure I would be free so far in advance.

[AdamSmith]

Wagner is so long winded and can be so boring (to the unenlightened that is...) that a certain visual aspect is really mandatory

 

"I have been told that Wagner's music is better than it sounds." -- Mark Twain

 

Yeah, Sunday Times write-up of the new Rheingold production got me all wound up. Then turned the page to the ad: SOLD OUT.

[whipped guy]

Das Rheingold

 

From what I have heard through the grapevine the new MET Das Rheingold is quite decent... Levine seems to have paced the opening night performance a bit faster than has been his preference, as in the past he has had a penchant for lingering and drawing out certain moments almost beyond their welcome... Also the singing was more or less praised as well... especially Terfel as Woton and Croft as Loge. As for staging, it received praise, but something went wrong in the final moments...

 

From the Wall Street Journal on-line:

 

The final scene of the Metropolitan Opera’s new “Das Rheingold” failed to function as planned during the premiere Monday in New York.

 

The Met confirms that the final set move didn’t happen — which left the actors looking at an abstract rainbow instead of walking off toward Valhalla. Designed by director Robert Lepage, the set consists of 24 planks that move together to suggest a variety of shapes and forms during the three-hour (and no intermission) performance.

 

A photo that ran in the Toronto Globe and Mail shows what was rehearsed — but the opening night crowd didn’t see.

 

Hopefully this glitch can be corrected...

 

The show is supposedly sold out, but can be seen in theater's on Oct 9 via the MET's Live in HD transmissions.

[+ g56whiz]

Here's another view. I know the reviewer and trust his judgement.

 

Met Opera's New “Ring” Disappoints

By George Loomis

MusicalAmerica.com

September 28, 2010

 

 

NEW YORK -- Anyone fearful that the Metropolitan Opera might relinquish its status as home of the world’s most conservative production of Wagner’s “Ring” can breathe a sign of relief. Last night the company opened its 2010-11 season with the premiere of Robert Lepage’s production of “Das Rheingold,” the first installment of the Canadian director’s eagerly awaited new “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” which will be seen in its entirety next season. It replaces director Otto Schenk’s deliberately old-fashioned “Ring” that began to be assembled in 1986 and was last seen in 2008-09.

 

The technical wizardry of Lepage’s production, as described in a number of advance reports, suggested the possibility of a distinct break with the Schenk version. And indeed the decor by Carl Fillion is radically different from Schenk’s storybook sets. With the gold curtain dispensed with, you see part of the basic set upon entering the auditorium—a row of 24 grey planks that look at first like the dim white keys of a giant piano. But they extend back much further than is at first apparent, and various joints and connections to each other allow them to assume a variety of shapes, most strikingly in the interludes before and after the scene in Nibelheim, when the planks take the form of an immense staircase, high above the stage, on which the chief god Wotan and the god of fire Loge (held by cables) make the precarious journey to the bowls of the earth, and back up again. Truly dazzling.

 

More frequently, the planks are arranged to form two level planes, one in front of the other, the upstage surface at roughly a 45-degree angle to the downstage, which lays flat most of the time on the stage’s lip. Several scenes make use a gap between the two, including the opening when the Nibelung dwarf Alberich successively pursues the three Rhinemaidens amorously. The latter are up above, he is below, and when he tries to reach them he sometimes slides back down into the gap. The set’s capabilities for sliding are availed of later when certain of the gods amusingly make their entrances by gliding down the slope. (Body doubles are used, although not as abundantly as one might have imagined, given the apparent risks involved in negotiating the set.) After the giant Fafner kills his brother Fasolt, the planks tilt sufficiently for Fasolt’s body to slide into the gap, out of sight. On the other hand, the wily Loge shows a surprising ability to walk up the sloping surface backwards, with the help of a cable.

 

“Das Rheingold” offers a number of possibilities for special effects, just the sort of thing you would think that Lepage would excel at. The dragon that Alberich briefly changes himself into is a prehistoric skeletal creature whose tail emerges from stage right and whose fearful jaws emerge from the left, but technically it’s nothing special. And Lepage lets us down for the opera’s climactic moment when the gods are supposed to cross a rainbow bridge and enter their new home of Valhalla. We never even see Valhalla. The gods spot it by looking out into the audience, thereby placing its whereabouts somewhere near the Grand Tier.

 

Later, Donner, the god of thunder, abetted by Etienne Boucher’s lighting (an asset generally), conjures up attractive rainbow colors on a slice of the downstage plank, but when the big moment comes, the gods just straggle off into the wings leaving the Loge alone on stage.

 

But the real disappointment of this “Rheingold” is its thorough conventionality, and this is where it recalls the Schenk “Ring.” Lepage’s “set” is updated, but its various but limited configurations are everything, with thoughtful staging of the principals in very short supply. Sure, the Rhinemaidens swim through midair. But Lepage refuses to go beneath the surface of the characters or probe their relationships. He doesn’t even follow current practice of picking up on innovative ideas from other directors, like having Freia, the goddess of youth, feel an attraction toward her captor, Fasolt.

 

On the other hand, Lepage doesn’t do anything perverse, which means that Wagnerites fed up by directorial distortions will continue to flock to the Met “Ring,” just as they did for the Schenk “Ring.” François St-Aubin’s ornate costumes reinforce the traditional orientation.

 

But there are happy moments musically, not least those supplied by James Levine, who conducted his first performance after a lengthy hiatus from the podium necessitated by back surgery. It is a familiar interpretation, very methodical, highly controlled, beautifully played, here and there in need of a little more energy or definition. He received a deserved ovation both before and after the opera. But at the end the audience’s concern was palpable when he came out for his bow and needed assistance stepping onto the set. Once there he looked good, and surprisingly trim.

 

The cast was excellent too, even if quibbles can be registered concerning the three most important characters. Bryn Terfel was in strong, vibrant voice, but was an unusually aggressive, even petulant Wotan who really seemed to enjoy his victory over Alberich. Perhaps it is part of a strategy to underscore the chief god’s growing maturity as the cycle progresses.

 

The casting of Richard Croft, a Mozart tenor, as Loge must be chalked up as a noble experiment. The fire god has much beautiful music that cries out for compelling lyricism but is frequently barked out. Croft supplied the lyricism, but the voice sometimes dwindled into inaudibility. Eric Owens was a gripping if not terribly sonorous Alberich, who vividly projected the Nibelung’s considerable frustrations.

 

The “Rheingold” Fricka doesn’t have a lot to do, but Stephanie Blythe, in sumptuous voice, made the most of her opportunities. The casting of Patricia Bardon, an accomplished Handelian, as Erda proved more inspired than with Loge. Franz-Josef Selig (Fasolt) and Hans-Peter König (Fafner) made a sonorous pair of giants.

 

Gerhard Siegel excelled as Alberich’s oppressed brother Mime. Wendy Bryn Harmer was a splendid, bright-voiced Freia. Adam Diegel, in his Met debut, contributed a solid Froh but could have profited from some of Richard Croft’s gracefulness. Dwayne Croft (Richard’s brother) wielded Donner’s hammer strongly and offered singing to match. Lisette Oropesa, Jennifer Johnson and Tamara Mumford were a vocally seductive trio of Rhinemaidens. Lepage will have his work cut out for himself when “Die Walküre,” the next installment of his “Ring,” is unveiled in the spring, an opera in which human relationships are everything and technical wizardry counts for little.

 

Copyright © 2010, Musical America

[doitb4ugo]

I have just read Loomis's review above...Where is his disappointment. The review sounds pretty good. Fairly conventional and better staging, and good performances...I'm looking forward to see it in HD. It will be my first opera. Sounds very interesting based on the review.

[whipped guy]

Other than the quote form the WSJ my posting was based on what I heard from opera goers who had seen or heard the opening night performance. There was a general disappointment with the operas conclusion and the consensus was that the director would be revising his staging of the rainbow bridge... HOWEVER, with the revelation that there were technical difficulties at the conclusion of the opera most likely forcing the "Gods" to improvise their entrance into Valhalla... I am not sure if such criticism is indeed warranted. It will be interesting to see what the reaction will be to the conclusion when the staging is accomplished as originally intended. Perhaps there will still be something to criticize... as I said it will be interesting to see what develops.

 

Incidentally, Loge is my favorite character in the Ring... and I have always thought of him as being a lyric tenor... in that regard the MET's casting seems to be right on target... I like singers who can sing and not bark in Wagner... and in that regard hopefully Jonas Kaufmann will prove to be an asset as Siegmund in Die Walkure... the next installment of the Ring Cycle.

[Guest alanm]

I have just read Loomis's review above...Where is his disappointment. The review sounds pretty good. Fairly conventional and better staging' date=' and good performances...I'm looking forward to see it in HD. It will be my first opera. Sounds very interesting based on the review.[/quote']

 

The disappointment is voiced in the first sentence of the review. The Met has a deserved reputation for conservative productions, and apparently the new Rheingold fits the pattern at least on some levels. There are many reasons for the reputation, mostly financial. The Met presents seven operas (with some repeats)a week from Sept. through May, and has to full most seats in a very large opera house each night/matinee. Opera houses in Europe have more financial room to try innovations in staging, sometimes the European productions are truly wonderful, often they miss the mark.

[whipped guy]

Opera houses in Europe have more financial room to try innovations in staging, sometimes the European productions are truly wonderful, often they miss the mark.

AKA Euro-trash productions, which is why I buy so few opera DVDs... The Ring has been staged everywhere from a pseudo Nazi Germany to the farthest reaches of outer space... the more experimental and surreal the better... read the more bizarre, weird, and wacky the better. As an example, a recent LA staging of Die Walkure took place on a giant clock face.... and Sigfried on an athletic field... both locations can be interpreted as being somewhere between the Third Reich and outer space.

[+ Charlie]

I rather like the current SF Opera staging of Rheingold, in which the gods seem (to me) to be boarding the Titanic at the end.

[Guest alanm]

AKA Euro-trash productions, which is why I buy so few opera DVDs...

 

I have seen several interesting/innovative news productions in Europe over the last five years that are far from Euro-trash, a Butterfly in St. Petersburg and an "Electra" in Paris.

 

I saw a new production of Rheingold at the Opera Bastille in Paris in March. I probably mentioned it here at the time. It certainly wasn't Euro-trash, because it had a relatively traditional setting. But there was just too much going on to take in at one performance-- so I want to add too much technology to the list of what to watch out for. I would have loved to see the Paris Rheingold a second time on that trip, but, of course, it was sold out. I can hope for a DVD -- the orchestra alone justifies it. And I have seen far, far worse Rheingolds on DVD lately. (To be fair, I have not enjoyed the excess technology --my words, no one else's -- in films either for a while now).

[whipped guy]

Not all Euro is Trash...

 

I have seen several interesting/innovative news productions in Europe over the last five years

I'll buy interesting an innovative where the music and libretto are respected... but many of these productions change the translation of the libretto in the supertitles to reflect what the director's concept is as opposed to the composer's.

 

As for excess technology... somewhere in between a red light bulb for the Magic fire at end of Walkure (as in the old MET production originating in the 1960's)... and a laser show with fireworks is probably the way to go.

 

I rather like the current SF Opera staging of Rheingold, in which the gods seem (to me) to be boarding the Titanic at the end.

Now that makes total sense to me!!!!