tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4932752907198933265.post7262687009776207552..comments2023-11-02T05:19:15.176-07:00Comments on The Misread City: Wagner's Ring Cycle vs. The GodsScott Timberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02018827087884225579noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4932752907198933265.post-30614532177161474682009-03-18T08:19:00.000-07:002009-03-18T08:19:00.000-07:00not having seen it i cant say this with much autho...not having seen it i cant say this with much authority, but that berlioz sounds hellish.Scott Timberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02018827087884225579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4932752907198933265.post-37204793333562727852009-03-18T06:23:00.000-07:002009-03-18T06:23:00.000-07:00Re: Lepage ...Having the goal of getting an opera ...Re: Lepage ...<BR/>Having the goal of getting an opera audience to say "ooh" and "ahhh" at the aerialists while Met stars are singing Berlioz seems like directorial money badly spent ... he brought his Cirque mentality to a stage that has qualities all its own.Milton Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470769665751561545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4932752907198933265.post-14949133708496264072009-03-17T13:33:00.000-07:002009-03-17T13:33:00.000-07:00mostly, i agree with this distinguished correspond...mostly, i agree with this distinguished correspondents, tho i think lepage is the real thing, judging from his ucla live production of a few years back. i imagine the cirque effort is silly/cheesy but i dont hold that against him. (he had a very substantial career before he got involved with them and will have a major career after he cuts ties.)Scott Timberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02018827087884225579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4932752907198933265.post-83597213655135258762009-03-16T20:41:00.000-07:002009-03-16T20:41:00.000-07:00I'm hardly an opera junkie (only 3 previous LA...I'm hardly an opera junkie (only 3 previous LA Opera productions under my belt), but I was there that same evening & enjoyed myself. The stagecraft was pretty cheesy - if you tell me a performer with a big, booming bass voice is a giant, I am perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief such that I don't need a big ol' paper mache head to seal the deal, much less an enormous paper mache hand (shades of the heavily-reviled 1976 version of "King Kong"). But I thought the singing was pretty top-notch, and some of the costume ideas were ok (gods should look really weird, in my opinion). It moved close to the border of being unnecessarily "avant-garde," but never crossed it.Eric J. Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09744871615269470283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4932752907198933265.post-52988890836666006902009-03-13T19:52:00.000-07:002009-03-13T19:52:00.000-07:00Looking at the photos of this production reminds m...Looking at the photos of this production reminds me why I prefer the Wieland Wagner minimalist approach. The music has inherent powers that I find compelling, and the silly masquers only detract from it, I think.<BR/><BR/>I saw the Met's "Damnation of Faust," directed by Robert Lepage, the dazzle-meister from Cirque du Soliel that the Met plans to have animate its new Ring. I find all the "Lion King" sizzle a real distraction.<BR/><BR/>Though I dislike all that directorial onanism, I must confess that "Rheingold" strikes me as the world's longest vorspeil, and I could skip straight to "Valkyrie" without ever missing a note of it.Milton Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470769665751561545noreply@blogger.com