Word: rings
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...ambiguities of the Ring, however, are what make it so irresistible, and lately there has been something of a Ring boomlet in America. The San Francisco Opera unveiled its splendid Ring last summer; the Dallas Opera has produced all four segments in the past five years; there is a production under way at Artpark in Lewiston, N.Y. Next month the Metropolitan Opera begins its new Ring with the second opera in the cycle, Die Walkure. Yet for sheer audaciousness, none of these companies are likely to rival the Seattle Opera, which opened a new Ring last week to an invigorating...
...result of a thoughtful and ultimately respectful examination of the sense of the piece. Rochaix and Israel are not the first to note the parallels between Wagner's life and his works, but few have ever acted on them so explicitly. Central to understanding the Seattle Opera's Ring is the notion that Wagner and Wotan are cognates, and that just as the composer uses leitmotivs, or musical symbols, to weave and bind his sprawling tapestry, so should Wotan employ theatrical symbols -- props -- to underscore the unity of the world he has created. The universe of the Ring...
Budgeted at $3 million and cast largely with Americans, the Seattle Ring is not in the vocal class of Bayreuth, the Met or San Francisco. Yet Sooter gives a strong, noble account of himself, as does Baritone Julian Patrick as a robust, crafty Alberich. Soprano Johanna Meier makes a touching, feminine Sieglinde and Tenor Emile Belcourt a slick Loge. In the crucial role of Brunnhilde, Soprano Linda Kelm displays a huge voice and an enviable ease of vocal production, but she needs more refinement and a better stage presence before the part will belong to her. Presiding musically...
...tempos tend toward the inflexible, sometimes leaving sluggish singers to catch up as best they can, he never swamps them in Wagnerian sound. Clean and elegant, Rosenthal's interpretation reflects an approach one does not usually associate with Wagner. "Some people will be surprised," he says, "but the Ring is lots of fun." In a production that compels rethinking Wagner's monument, the casting of Rosenthal is the most daring element...
...changing one's name (and thus, theoretically, one's identity). One now wishes to be addressed not as Bobby but as Hercules, or vice versa. Susan Weaver, for example, announced at 14 that she was henceforth Sigourney, a name that impressed her as "long and curvy, with a musical ring." For those apprehensive about anything so drastic, there is the face-lifting change in spelling: Debbie now wishes to be Debi, or Debbey...