Ring Cycle Review: Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold is two hours and forty minutes with no intermissions, which makes this "prologue" longer than many full operas. As the gentleman sitting beside me joked as we stood and stretched at the end, it's like flying from San Francisco to St. Louis. In coach.
My seats are in the orchestra, house right. I'm just far enough to the side for slightlines to occasionally be a little off, both in the staging of the scenes and in the fact that I can see into the wings just a little bit. This isn't a complaint, as my background in theatre was mostly in production, so I love having the slightly skewed view of the sets.
The SFO productions are incorporating projections on a scrim at the opening of the opera and in the musical passages that Wagner wrote for the scene changes. I have to admit, this rather disappointed me in regards to Das Rheingold, as I was interested almost as much in the set changes as I was in the sets themselves.
The opening scene with the Rheinmaidens was done relatively simply with stage haze representing the water of the Rhein. It's a common choice and it worked rather well. The Rheingold itself turned out to be a sheet of gold fabric which made for some interesting visuals and a brief tug-of-war as Alberich performs the actual theft.
Due to the Ring Symposium I attended earlier on Tuesday, I understood that the productions are meant to be very San Franciscan and this opening was meant to represent the Gold Rush and the beginning of the despoiling of nature.
All that was fine, but the second scene seemed to jump forward for unexplained reasons to a scene from half-a-century later -- something Gatsby-ish. In fact, Donner's hammer was a croquet mallet. The giants come down from the flies, sitting on a girder in a homage to photos like this one. (This image also links to one of the sets in Die Walküre.)
The giants were wonderful, both in costuming and in performance. What stole both the scenes with the giants for me was the interaction between Freia (Melissa Citro) and Farsolt (Andrea Silvertrelli). In Scene Two, he's quietly trying to woo her away, which means when she's dragged off she does not go entirely reluctantly.
Nibelheim was a gold or coal mine, which does fit in with the despoiling of nature theme, but did not seem particularly world-shaking. When Alberich turns himself into the snake, a projection is used, which disappointed me, but there are so many effects in a cycle, I suppose some of them have to be sacrificed. The toad into which Alberich transforms himself was cute and got a solid laugh from the audience as Loge and Wotan tossed it back and forth.
The final scene continued the great performance between Freia and Farsolt. When he's killed, there's a wonderful moment when Freia looks like she's about to crumble to pieces. (I must admit, those two performers totally make me what to write fanfic of the Ring.)
The last element that I thought was interesting is that Donner's rainbow bridge to Vahalla is the gangplank to a steamship. Coupling this with the 1910s clothing and there are obvious implications of the Titanic.
I liked a great deal about this production, but I also felt like there were a lot of ideas that didn't quite fit together into something greater. I was much more pleased with Die Walküre, which I hope to review later tonight.
Cate
My seats are in the orchestra, house right. I'm just far enough to the side for slightlines to occasionally be a little off, both in the staging of the scenes and in the fact that I can see into the wings just a little bit. This isn't a complaint, as my background in theatre was mostly in production, so I love having the slightly skewed view of the sets.
The SFO productions are incorporating projections on a scrim at the opening of the opera and in the musical passages that Wagner wrote for the scene changes. I have to admit, this rather disappointed me in regards to Das Rheingold, as I was interested almost as much in the set changes as I was in the sets themselves.
The opening scene with the Rheinmaidens was done relatively simply with stage haze representing the water of the Rhein. It's a common choice and it worked rather well. The Rheingold itself turned out to be a sheet of gold fabric which made for some interesting visuals and a brief tug-of-war as Alberich performs the actual theft.
Due to the Ring Symposium I attended earlier on Tuesday, I understood that the productions are meant to be very San Franciscan and this opening was meant to represent the Gold Rush and the beginning of the despoiling of nature.
All that was fine, but the second scene seemed to jump forward for unexplained reasons to a scene from half-a-century later -- something Gatsby-ish. In fact, Donner's hammer was a croquet mallet. The giants come down from the flies, sitting on a girder in a homage to photos like this one. (This image also links to one of the sets in Die Walküre.)
The giants were wonderful, both in costuming and in performance. What stole both the scenes with the giants for me was the interaction between Freia (Melissa Citro) and Farsolt (Andrea Silvertrelli). In Scene Two, he's quietly trying to woo her away, which means when she's dragged off she does not go entirely reluctantly.
Nibelheim was a gold or coal mine, which does fit in with the despoiling of nature theme, but did not seem particularly world-shaking. When Alberich turns himself into the snake, a projection is used, which disappointed me, but there are so many effects in a cycle, I suppose some of them have to be sacrificed. The toad into which Alberich transforms himself was cute and got a solid laugh from the audience as Loge and Wotan tossed it back and forth.
The final scene continued the great performance between Freia and Farsolt. When he's killed, there's a wonderful moment when Freia looks like she's about to crumble to pieces. (I must admit, those two performers totally make me what to write fanfic of the Ring.)
The last element that I thought was interesting is that Donner's rainbow bridge to Vahalla is the gangplank to a steamship. Coupling this with the 1910s clothing and there are obvious implications of the Titanic.
I liked a great deal about this production, but I also felt like there were a lot of ideas that didn't quite fit together into something greater. I was much more pleased with Die Walküre, which I hope to review later tonight.
Cate