Once More Unto the Planks

Gearing up for another Ring Cycle.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Siegfried (Jay Hunter Morris, left) rows up the Rhine as the Gibichungs look on.
Act I, Scene 1 of the Met's production of Götterdämmerung.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

I wasn't all that enthusiastic about seeing the Ring again.

I'll admit that in the buildup to the 2010 premiere of the Metropolitan Opera's new Robert Lepage production of Der Ring der Nibelungen, I was excited, even enthusiastic. I had enjoyed the concerts and theatrical productions that I'd seen him put on: Peter Gabriel's Growing Up tour, the Met's fully staged 2008 Le Damnation de Faust and Cirque de Soleil's Ka in Las Vegas.

Opera Review: The Machine of the Nibelungs

We break down (poor choice of words) the Lepage Ring.
by Paul Pelkonen

The new Ring cost millions. Hope rich Uncle Pennybags™ likes opera.
Card from Monopoly™ © 1936 Parker Brothers Games.

So now that Götterdämmerung has been broadcast in the movie theaters, it's time to take a look at all four parts of the Metropolitan Opera's multimillion dollar production of Wagner's Ring.

Canadian director Robert Lepage came to Wagner's operas with what seemed to be a deliberately naïve view: to use high technology and digital projections to recreate a fairly literal version of the Germanic myths that inspired the composer. The costumes were directly drawn from old productions of the Ring, right down to the little metal helmets worn by the Valkyries and Wotan's undersized partisan-shaped spear.

To be sure, this cycle developed over the year and a half it took to premiere, with Siegfried and Götterdämmerung showing advances in technology that solved some of the serious problems existent in the earlier opera. But the biggest problem with this cycle is Mr. Lepage's decision to minimize the acting surface of the Met stage, giving his singers almost nowhere to go except the narrow grey board-walk of planks that stood on the lip of the stage underneath the Machine, or a trench underneath that hid the singers' legs from the view of the audience and made it harder for them to sing.

Opera Review: The Last Plank

The Met opens Robert Lepage's Götterdämmerung.
by Paul Pelkonen

Wedding interrupted. Act II of Götterdämmerung with Deborah Voigt (center) as Brunnhilde.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera unveiled the final segment of the company's new Ring Cycle last night with the house premiere of Götterdämmerung. This is the Robert Lepage production, featuring a frequently moving unit set ("The Machine") that reconfigures itself as needed to serve as a huge projection screen for digital imagery by Ex Machina, Mr. Lepage's Canadian production house.

This is not the best cast ever put onstage for Götterdämmerung. Deborah Voigt's performance had its rough moments, thanks to a dodgy middle register and a wide vibrato that threatened to degenerate in Act II. But the red-wigged diva pulled her performance out of the fire, even as she rode a giant robo-horse into the flames, singing an impressive, noble Immolation Scene.

Jay Hunter Morris continues to impress with his energetic Siegfried, although his diction still sounds a little weird at times. (Maybe it's a Texas thing.) His voice is a little small for the part, but with careful conducting from Fabio Luisi in the pit, he navigated the role's rough spots or in one case (the Act II "impossible" octave drop) avoided them altogether.