A packed McCaw Hall witnessed the opening piece of Wagner's Ring Cycle tonight when Greer Grimsley as Wotan led the performance of Das Rheingold. I'll have a full review of the show tomorrow but for tonight just some initial thoughts for the uninitiated.
Das Rheingold is a very male dominated opera at least after the opening scene. In the opening scene, three young ladies are suspended by wires 15-30 feet above the stage. They are simulating swimming and bravely continually made flipping motions with their hands while singing in mid air. Michele Losier, Jennifer Hines and Julianne Gearhart as Wellgunde, Flosshilde and Woglinde respectively deserved some credit for the physical feat alone.
After that, the stage was overabundant with raw male testosterone as Wotan, Alberich, the roguish Loge, Froh, Donner Fasolt and Fafner strutted around the stage accompanied by those wonderful threats and finger pointing that opera is so wonderful at providing.
The sets were magical and as a German speaker, I found much of the diction fairly clear to decipher, quite an achievement when trying to project your voice into a massive hall with a high roof.
At the end, the audience reaction was fulfilling, although I couldn't quite escape the feeling we were all holding something back for the marathon to come. From the people I talked to, it seemes everybody is in it for the full cycle.
As I said, I'll be back with a fuller review tomorrow, but I wanted to divulge a few initial thoughts tonight before retiring to the darkness of Alberich's cave. Nice to see Jason Collins back again.
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