The Catskill Chronicle

Review by Barry Plaxen

Wagner’s Das Rheingold was chosen for the Live From the Met in HD 2010-2011 series opening offering. On October 9 I arrived at Sullivan County Community College wondering if this unrealistic, super-fantastic drivel about greedy, neurotic Teutonic Gods would work as drama. Wagner chose not to call his works “opera’, but “music-drama.” Nonetheless, with the silly, ridiculous, unbelievable plot he contrived for this opera, the first of a four-part series of operas, I could not help pondering if the Met’s great performers could get me involved in the far-out situations happening on the stage.

The plot is too lengthy to detail. Most everyone knows about the Scandinavian Gods which were taken and morphed into Teutonic Gods, anyway. Gods with all our human foibles, but mostly greed. Quite unpleasant. Or so I thought. Because of the “actors”, their passion, their immediacy, their honest belief in their situation, I was transformed and carried along with their emotions. The acting was so superb that if the singing had been adequate or mediocre, it would still have worked. But that was not the case.

Met Opera General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine offered up some of the most magnificent voices in the world. Starting with Monticello’s contribution to the world of opera, Stephanie Blythe as Fricka, wife of the head God. Blythe’s voice is arguably the greatest voice extant today. Oddly, her acting is not as highly skilled.

Rather than have space outlining the plot, it must be given to the cast, starting with world renown Welsh opera star Bryn Terfel who was Wotan. Just read this list and learn these names if you don’t know them. They are in a class with Blythe and Terfel.

Loge: Richard Croft

Mime: Gerhard Siegel

Fasolt: Franz-Josef Selig

Fafner: Hans-Peter Konig

Freia: Wendy Bryn Harmer

Froh: Adam Diegel

Donder: Dwayne Croft

Woglinde: Lisette Oropesa

Wellgunde: Jennifer Johnson

Flosshilde: Tamara Mumford

Erda: Patricia Bardon

Over a dozen of today’s world’s greatest singers. All in this one opera. And, along with Terfel, the first seven names are impeccable first-class actors with the others not far behind.

For those of you who do know the opera and do know that there is a main character name missing from above, it is because I must single out one performer for his superlative performance: Philadelphian, Eric Owens as Alberich. More than a “meistersinger”, Owens might be the finest “master singing-actor” alive today. His ability to convey a myriad of conflicting emotions vocally and visually, is surpassed by none.

I never knew there was so much depth to the character of Alberich. I wonder if Wagner did.

Much has been written on the innovative set and costumes, so I will pass on that. Suffice it to say, everything “worked”. Thanks to all involved, and especially conductor James Levine, for bringing to fruition the musical-dramatic concepts of Wagner under the impeccable vision of stage director, Robert Lepage. And thanks to the HD process for making it all so immediate and accessible. I look forward to the next three operas in this Ring cycle.

Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov will be shown live on October 23 at Noon. For tickets, phone 845-434-5750, ext. 4472.