Read My Older Blog Posts here

Visit my previous Blog "Movies and More: Positively Personal Reviews" for my earlier (pre-May 2011) reviews and ramblings.

Monday, July 30, 2012

WAGNER'S DREAM

Never in a million years would I have expected to enjoy a documentary about the staging of an Opera! You should know that I am definitely not an opera fan. Far from it! GOK what Wagner was thinking when he wrote "The Ring," in 1876, including scenes that were impossible to stage with the technology available in that century.  He wrote of gods and mortals in combat, and performers underwater and flying through the air, with arias that have challenged the greatest of the great singers for over 200 years!  The "Ring" is a  4 part 16 hour tour de force that has stymied some of the most determined directors and stage managers.  I found "Wagner's Dream" to be one of the best, most  fascinating and compelling films I've ever seen.  Directed by Susan Fromke it revealed the envisioning, intricate planning, and creating of what I can only call a monumental  architectural achievement of engineering that manifests (as best we can tell) not only the spirit, but the vision on stage, with real singers ( and some stunt doubles) of Wagner's opera.  Performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York this year, this masterful work was total  fascinating to watch.  The interviews with the principals were wonderful and I was surprised to find myself not only appreciating, but actually enjoying the few selections they sang!   With a computer and human stage-hand controlled "Machine" (as they called it), the moving and movable stage itself was comprised of about a dozen wooden planks that undulated, rose and fell as appropriate to the situation in the music.  This film is fabulous!  (I would think that people who actually like opera would swoon over it!)  

No comments:

Post a Comment