Der Ring Roundup - Everything You Need to Know About Siegfried and His Friends

If you think Achim Freyer's character design for the evil dwarf Alberich looks like a Nazi cartoon stereotype of a Jewish banker, you are a student of history.

Now that Los Angeles Opera is in the midst of three consecutive cyles of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, here's a recap of all four operas:

Wagner's Ring Cycle at LA Opera - Recap for Late Deciders



Photo by Monika Rittershaus courtesy LA Opera

Alas, Poor Ubermensch Boychik

As Wagner fans all over the world know by now, the Los Angeles Opera is engaged in an audacious two-year project to stage Achim Freyer's postmodern version of the Ring Cycle. Having attended the first three operas in sequence, Georja Umano and I just sat through Gotterdamerung, the last installment, which shows the destruction of the gods, in five hours and twenty minutes and two intermissions. Read our review for LASplash here: Gotterdamerung Review - A Thrilling End to the Ring.

I've commented previously in this blog about Wagner's superhero character Siegfried, a demigod in whom the hope of the world seemed to depend. He is a brash, impetuous fellow, very much the boychik, the putz with more chutzpah than brains. He has it all with goddess-babe Brunnhilde, and he blows it. (Her stereotyped character used to be portrayed onstage as a bellowing cow wearing breastplate and horned Viking helmet. In LA Opera's production, Linda Watson softens her considerably, with no loss of vocal amps.)

But back to Siegfried. Why does the hope of the world run onto his own sword?

I don't know. I'm asking.

(That's not a spoiler. He doesn't literally run onto his sword. You have to invest the five plus hours to find out, or find yourself a used copy of Grove's.)

P.S. Los Angeles Opera will present three more cycles of the Ring, starting in late May and running through the month of June.

(Photo by Monica Rittershaus courtesy LA Opera)

G&G Opera Review: Carmen, You Shameless Hottie

We had lots to say about sexual politics, then (1875) and now in our review of the opening night of LA Opera's revival of Bizet's Carmen. Women will do anything to survive, and men will do anything to possess women. Click here to read our review on LA Splash.com.


(Photo by Robert Millar courtesy LA Opera)

G&G Swat 'Butterfly'

No, that's not Georja and Gerald dressed for a costume ball. It's soprano Liping Zhang and tenor Franco Farina singing their hearts out in LA Opera's current production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. We took some playful swings at Robert Wilson's austere staging in our review for LA Splash but ended up following the Hyper Critics oath and ultimately did no harm. Click here to read what we said about our experience on opening night.

And lest you think this is far afield from boychik lit, go see it and then tell me its not all about sexual politics (albeit in 1904).

Mixing metaphors for fun and philosophy: If Wilson's concept for set and costumes remind you of Star Trek, who are the Klingons? (Hint: They sail in on the gunboat U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.)

Navy Lt. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton sings in Act I (very loose translation from the Italian), "We Americans go all over the globe, screw the locals, take our profit, and never mind the risk. In fact, wherever there's a risk, that's where we drop anchor."

(Photo by Robert Millard courtesy LA Opera)

G&G Go to the Opera

With Georja Umano, I'm now reviewing opera for LA Splash.com. Our first two reviews were posted this weekend.

Il Trittico, three Puccini one-acts, is the LA Opera season opener. There are a few more performances, and count yourself blessed if you can get tickets. (LA Opera photos by Robert Millard.)

The Fly is the Los Angeles premiere of a new work by Howard Shore and David Henry Hwang. As Billy Wilder supposedly said on seeing Lloyd-Weber's Sunset Boulevard, "It would make a good movie."




Georja and I have this he-said/she-said thing going in the reviews, so it may be high-toned culture but it's still all about boychik sexual politics.

Hope you follow our reviews throughout the 2008-09 LA Opera season.