Achim Freyer's $32,000,000.00 Ring Unveiled

The Los Angeles Times has a nice photo gallery of L.A.'s Rheingold; the always insightful Tim Mangan in the OC Register has words.

Achim Freyer's production for the complete Ring carries a cool 32-million-dollars price tag in the middle of a big recession; curiously Freyer, in Hebrew, means "sucker".

We just need to figure out who's being suckered here exactly.

Comments

[Doug D]

$32,000,000, eh? How much does chicken wire and tempura paint cost nowadays?

Holy balls, that is one ugly production. I would pay money NOT to have to sit through 20+ hours of that.

[Hal]

There may be multiple suckers, but the public that pays to see this ghastly thing has to be the main one. Another psychedelic production...Wagner gone off the rails. Oh I do hope it proves to be a colossal failure. Booed and hooted with the audience walking out after the first few minutes.

[Hal]

A far less enthusiastic review from an AP critic:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090222/ap_en_mu/opera_la_ring;_ylt=AvIy6bgvf32MyToIUCkCMAdxFb8C

I would add that if one thinks Rheingold is a "fascinating" opera one can't be listening much to the music; it would have to be bedazzlement at the crazy sets. People didn't walk out, drat it, but were not very enthusiastic. And the mess isn't even paid for yet.

[Mike]

I was there Sat. night. Not bad. I was expecting a fiasco (it's quite common for LA opera) but overall it was pretty decent. Definitely more entertaining than "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

[Willy]

Interesting!

[Hal]

If I go to Das Rheingold, I want to see the gold, IN the Rhein, with maidens swimming around, period. I don't want fakes and substitutes. I want to see Wagner's opera as he intended it to be seen, not as some contemporary charlatan misrepresents it. If one doesn't like Wagner's original, why change only the staging, why not rewrite the music too? We could have so and so's new twelve tone Wagner opera, with all the harmonies changed and "modernized", rewritten to go with the new staging. That would be something for everybody to talk about. Stunning "adaption".

[Maria]

Very ugly in many ways. Extremely provocative too.

[CrewMantle]

Tim Mangan's article spoke to all you ever needed to know about the vacuousnees of current American criticism. A review about opera; a musical vocal art form, yet barely 3 sentences were devoted to the singing itself.

Inept, tepid writing at best. Perfect for the L.A. crowd however, as they don't understand anything over 2 syllables, so why bother.

Personally I liked what I saw visually. Its perfect for the land of crackheads and airheads! Btw, was Perez Hilton at the prima? This is the kind of production they can sink their teeth into out in LA. Though it won't play in Peoria, and would be run out of town in St. Petersburg, it would do fine in Vienna or anyplace in France. So bonus points to La La land Opera for wisely playing to their audience.

[alejandra]

"He has invented his own theatrical language – a particular kind of movement (mostly slowish) and extravagant visuals, part avant-garde, a little comic book, certainly surreal, and very, very colorful. Just to look at his "Das Rheingold" is to be entertained, but it's even better than that."
I saw the photogallery and I wasn't so impressed... I think he tries too hard to be inventive... I prefer Braunschweig's aproach..

[Caitlin]

Good lord, how does the LA opera have this kind of money?! I guess they did manage to build Julie Taymor's $6 million revolving wall for Grendel. That wall could have made Zeffirelli's Aida. Six times. Honestly, though - there have got to be better ways to use this money; or at least make it look like a $32 million Ring cycle, as opposed to the bastard child of Julie Taymor and H.R. Pufnstuf.

[Mike]

According to Willy they should stage it at Sea World... lots of water for the maids to swim in. or better. at the willy wonka chocolate factory.

[lingin]

I honestly think the major expense for any "Ring" is the musicians. The cycle not only requires a huge orchestra but 3 of the 4 operas run into overtime.

[David]

ICK!

[Opera Chic]

Crew Mantle in this case you're attacking the wrong target: if there is a man of scholarship and musical taste in California, that man is Mr. Mangan: his published works, among them his wonderful Paul Bowles book, speak for themselves. This is a good critic who knows his stuff.

Then, one can disagree on the issues, but Mangan's one of the few good ones out there.

[Henry Holland]

Crew Mantle, the reason he spends only 3 sentences on the singing is that reading about the technical aspects of singing is boring as all hell to 99% of the public.

"Though it won't play in Peoria, and would be run out of town in St. Petersburg"

Oh really? Because this is what the current Mariinsky Ring looks like and, looky there, if it isn't in the same visual ballpark as Mr. Freyer's! And we're the airheads here in Los Angeles?!? [massive eye-rolling]

All you people that want a literal interpretation, go to that mausoleum of dead people and dead ideas, The Met, they'll take care of you.

[Henry Holland]

Oh, did Crew Mantle mean St. Petersburgh FLORIDA? Hahahahaha, yeah, that's a real hotbed of opera...

[CrewMantle]

OC,

I appreciate what U have to say here. I do however maintain my earlier stance regarding the writing of that particular article; it speaks for itself rather well.

[Tim]

Thanks to my supporters here. CrewMantle, I wrote my "Rheingold" review for a suburban paper outside of Los Angeles, not for Opera News. One has to be careful about getting too technical with vocal descriptions in a general circulation publication. In any case, I think simple, short descriptions are probably best when talking about singers, at least in most cases when reviewing operas with big casts. Virgil Thomson, to name but one, did this very well. What's more, the "news" in this "Rheingold" is the production, take it or leave it.

[CrewMantle]

Well Mr. Mangan... I'll leave it. thanks.

It would seem to me that people attend opera for the music primarily, and for the spectacle secondly.

Relatedly and of note, regardless of cast size, only the lead singers are generally reviewed as you well know. If one does not have the background to expound on technical merits, it is wise to not attempt to do so.

Anyone who reviews opera is reviewing a musical art form. To not discuss the music primarily is offensive to the reading audience, who may well `get it`. To not give them the benefit of a musical opinion is to insult their intelligence.

Regardless, one would hope, even for the L.A. crowd.