Lepage’s ‘Das Rheingold’ at the Met: High on visuals, low on vision

Extravagant production’s special effects would surely have pleased Wagner, but dramatic action remains mostly stagnant

By David Rubin
http://www.cnycafemomus.com/David_Rubin.html

In his essential and highly entertaining book Bayreuth: A History of the Wagner Festival, Frederic Spotts makes clear how much effort Wagner put into devising the special effects he hoped would make the 1876 premier of the entire Ring cycle a thrilling experience. Given the technology available to him, it is no surprise that many of the effects failed to impress, and the always-dissatisfied composer was anguished about how many of them fizzled.  
 
Wagner’s grandson Wieland Wagner gave up entirely on attempting any sort of "realism" in Bayreuth productions of the Ring after World War II. Instead he reinvented Wagner staging with an emphasis on light and a mostly-bare stage.
 
For the Met’s new Ring cycle, Robert Lepage and his production team embraced the challenge of creating the stage magic that might bring to life Das Rheingold’s giants and Rheinmaidens; the hellish descent into Nibelheim; the dragons, toads, and piles of gold; and the glorious ascent of the gods into Valhalla.  
 
As a purely visual experience, Lepage’s Rheingold surely would have delighted Wagner. Lepage has produced a Rheingold that even non-Wagnerites will want to see (it returns to the Met for two performances this spring.) While his production is no video game, Lepage offers stage pictures that are ingenious and stunning. His now-famous set of 24 planks seems to be made of Silly Putty, so easily does it curve, split, lift and roll to create a variety of surfaces. Lepage projects abstract images onto these surfaces in a rich palette of colors. His singers walk and climb on it, float over it, or just stand on it and sing.  
 
Loge, the god of fire, tiptoes backwards up the planks with the aid of a wire and seems to float in the air, surrounded by a nimbus of flame. Wotan and Loge descend into Nibelheim from the top of stage left to the bottom of stage right on a blazingly white plank path. The Rheinmaidens swish their tails at Alberich and knock video pebbles to the river bed.
 
The ascent of the gods into Valhalla, which didn’t function opening night because of a computer glitch, is alone worth the considerable price of admission. Lepage projects vivid rainbow colors along the back of the set. The center planks tilt up to the sky and are bathed in a shimmering light. Body doubles for the five gods, wired for safety, slowly ascend the central planks until they reach the rainbow backdrop. Lepage doesn’t bother with a real rainbow or a Bavarian castle to suggest Valhalla. We can fill in the blanks. The visual overload, coupled with the glorious music, left me barely able to breathe.
 
Perhaps because he spent so much time on the set and visual projections, Lepage shortchanges other duties of a director. He imposes no particular vision on Rheingold. In this way it is as traditional as the production it replaced, which was often criticized for not having any vision. I happen to prefer imposing my own meaning on the fable. These days I see in it the catastrophe produced by greedy Wall Street bankers and mortgage brokers minting gold on the backs of innocent investors. Those hoping Lepage would open new perspectives on what the fable means will, however, be disappointed.
 
Nor does he encourage much genuine interaction among the players. As Wotan, Bryn Terfel is left to his own devices, which are meager as an actor. In bearing he projects none of the god’s strength, ruthlessness, or vulnerability. He sometimes just disappears, which is not good for the king of the gods.  Loge delivered little candle power or humor. The giants were rooted to two spots above the stage floor. Only the Alberich of Eric Owens and the Freia of Wendy Bryn Harmer were rounded characters, and I credit that to their own instincts.
 
I listened to the opening night performance on Sirius XM radio and judged it the best sung live performance of Rheingold I had heard. In the house, however, it did not come across that way. Richard Croft’s Loge was often inaudible, and the singing was monotonous. He was booed by some at the matinee curtain call, not without cause.
 
Terfel’s voice did not carry well in the house. It lacks presence, menace, and authority. Perhaps I have to shake James Morris out of my ears in this part, but Terfel’s voice seemed a size too small and lacking in a distinctive timbre. He is not yet the next great Wotan in the Hans Hotter tradition.
 
Best were the strong, biting Fricka of Stephanie Blythe, who never misfires, and the menacing Alberich from Owens. Gerhard Siegel was a pitiable Mime. Patricia Bardon was a sexy, smoky Erda, in a long blond wig and a tight-fitting black dress. Adam Diegel delivered a very creditable Froh. As Donner, Dwayne Croft gathered the storm clouds and swung his hammer with authority. Both giants ― Franz-Josef Selig and Hans-Peter König ― have strong, black voices with depth.
 
At this point in his career, James Levine is, unfortunately, beyond criticism as a conductor. Returning from back surgery, he had the audience on his side before the downbeat. Barely able to walk, Levine was supported by his singers during the tumultuous curtain calls.  
 
That said, I find his Wagner conducting much too slow. As just one example, the tempo as Wotan and Loge fled Nibelheim with their prisoner Alberich was so ponderous that the pair seemed unwilling to leave. Levine illuminates every corner of the score, and the Met orchestra members play like gods, but it’s all too slow.
 
So it wasn’t perfect. No performance of a Ring opera can be, given the demands. But Lepage’s images are still vivid in my mind’s eye, and I expect they will remain there forever. I hope the Valkyries are prepared to sing their "hoyotohos" suspended from the top of the stage this spring when the Lepage Die Walküre debuts. And I expect Wotan to surround the entire opera house in his magic fire.   
 
Details Box:
What: Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Live at the Met
When: October 9, 2010
Who: Metropolitan Opera
Time: 3 hours
Where: Metropolitan Opera House, New York
Cast: Bryn Terfel, Stephanie Blythe, Eric Owens, Richard Croft
Next simulcast: Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, October 23 at 12:00 pm ET