Rheingold
No matter what one thinks about Richard Wagner, the man, there is no denying that his towering operatic tetralogy, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN has earned its place in the Artistic Pantheon. It is doubtful that any work of Western Art, other than HAMLET, has engendered so much scholarly debate. Wagner’s epic, with its complex mix of gods, curses, heroes, revenge and the end of the world, have proven a touchstone for Music Drama as well as for the wider theatrical world.
Productions of the Ring Cycle serve as a compact theatrical history, moving from clunky realism to abstract minimalism along with side trips through updates that emphasized one aspect or another of this most protean piece. Popular culture has long since appropriated various “Ring” elements: the Valkyrie’s ubiquitous headgear and their famous “Ride” have attained iconic status and the story elements have inspired artists as varied as Tolkien and Chuck Jones (“Kill the Wabbit,” anyone?) Not to mention Anna Russell’s devastatingly hysterical 20 minute summary of the entire Cycle.
Wagner spent nearly thirty years working on the Ring and wanted the operas performed on successive nights. But superhuman vocal demands combined with the physical production and the orchestral requirements proved overwhelming and, when performed together, the operas are generally given over a week’s time. Wagner devotees travel around the world to view and debate new versions of the Ring Cycle.
Any opera company producing a new Ring Cycle starts the project burdened with this baggage. It is, therefore, admirable of LA Opera to plunge wholeheartedly into Wagner’s mythic Rhine with its long-awaited Ring Cycle, especially in light of how the present financial crisis is affecting Arts Organizations.
Music Director James Conlon is on record as desiring a production that would emphasize Wagner’s Mythic Element by using a design that would eschew specific Eras or recognizable geogrpahy. So the company turned to painter/designer/director, Achim Freyer to create their Ring. Freyer’s previous work for the company includes a visually arresting BACH B-MINOR MASS and a sporadically engrossing DAMNATION DE FAUST. Of course, neither piece was ever intended to be staged which left the question of Freyer’s ability to direct a mammoth piece like The Ring an open question.
The world that Freyer has designed is original, fantastical and highly stylized. Elements of Picasso merge with Dali and Magritte to form a universe that absolutely meets Conlon’s expectations of a completely unknown landscape. His costumes, designed in conjunction with his daughter Amanda Freyer, serve a similar purpose, creating an assemblage of gods and giants who appear both cartoonish and symbolic. All previous expectations must be checked at the door as we encounter bald and immobile Rhinemaidens, Dwarves with giant primordial masks, and Loge in the shape of an incendiarily debonair demon. At times the singers are doubled or even tripled by a sturdy crew of dancers/movement specialists who often manipulate puppet figures. A large hydraulic turntable forms the major playing area, occasionally pitching itself onto a perilously steep rake. The stage is curtained by a scrim on which Freyer projects an amazing array of images.
A serious concern for the production is losing the singers in the sheer magnitude of the theatrical showmanship surrounding them. Luckily LA Opera has cast a stalwart group that refuses to take a back seat to the design elements even though they occasionally seem to be fighting the “Freyerisms” around them. Vitalij Kowalijow proved an unusually smooth and subtle Wotan while Michelle DeYoung’s strongly-voiced Fricka managed to make the character far more sympathetic than usual. Arnold Bezuyen properly dominated his scenes as Loge, the Trickster with a clear tone and commanding presence. Gordon Hawkins found no problems spewing Alberich’s bile through his mask and Graham Clark’s arrestingly odd sound made the small (in this opera) role of Mime memorable. Ellie Dehn was a lovely Freia and Stacey Tappan, Lauren McNeese and Beth Clayton were beautifully sung, if strangely asexual Rhinemaidens.
Conlon proved again how integral he is to LA Opera by conducting a detailed and reverent, though never dull, performance of the opera. Ringaholics are, no doubt, already debating the pros and cons of this Cycle across the internet. All new productions of The Ring have their fans and detractors. But it hardly seems fair to pass judgment on a part without seeing the whole. After all, RHEINGOLD is the shortest of the operas and deals only with the gods and other fantastical creatures. How will Freyer’s vision change in the next opera when Mankind makes its first appearance? Those of us lucky enough to live in Los Angeles will find out starting April 4th.
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Theater: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Web Site: http://www.laopera.com/
Tickets: 213 972-8001
Dates: February 21 – March 15 ,2009