Seattle's Green Ring Walküre.

[Brünnhilde ewig]

OK, I was all set for the bowling-over experience, seeing my favourite Ring section: Die Walküre. The seat arrangement surprised me because the sketch at the web site did not make it clear that my last row of the center orchestra section was actually the last row in the steeply raked floor. Behind my back was the wall separating me from the lobby, or promenade section. Now you know how far I was from the action on stage. Of course there is always a plus to everything: Nobody poked their knees into my back! You know how important the very beginning is, Wagner describing a running and panting Siegmund, coming and fading repeatedly. The first notes and I almost reached for my non-existant volume control dial because I could barely hear it. I am no expert on acoustic but I have a hunch that the fact the six last rows in this section are covered by the balcony seats, we were sitting under a huge roof above us, could this be the cause of the difficulty hearing too well? This problem of course went through the entire performance; I decided to accept and get used to it.

Siegmund/Stuart Skelton makes his entry, good voice, good diction, very good. Sieglinde/Margaret Jane Wray not so good in the beginning, kind of timid, but then in the very end, the scene where she leaves the Walküren to go off into the woods to have Siegfried she does show her stuff. Hunding/Andreas Silverstrelli very good also, tall and ugly acting as he should be. Wotan/Greer Grimsley is a very good Wotan, as far as voice is concerned, but it must be the director's fault that all the actors appear to be static, in fact the entire opera is static, nobody moves, just sings. The highlight as far as voice goes is Fricka/Stephanie Blythe, really good.

Now you have the people on the stage, the stage itself, the place so highly praised for being a Ring as it should be, the Seattle Green Ring, famous all over the world. When the curtain raises I muttered to myself -inaudibly - Hänsel und Gretel! -! It's the witches gingerbread house sitting in the deep forest. What evidently is supposed to be old craggly weather-beaten timber, looks like gingerbread - from the last row in the house anyhow! - I always look forward to the second act confrontation between husband and wife expecting fiery and emotional acting, with great singing of course. Well, the great singing is there, but the director Stephen Wadsworth has the couple sitting at the kitchen table in the hut and simply sing. As far back as I was I could not see if there was any emotion showing in their faces, their bodies sure did not. And it didn't improve in the scene with Wotan and Brünnhilde/Janice Baird. Baird is not a powerful Maid, physically slender and very active, kind of jumpy, but she does not have the voice for the Hojotoho, not even close to Nilsson. The set changes a bit in the second act, but the hut is still the same, only in the last act the set is different and very impressive, representing our local lava stone scenery, no more trees, all gone - logged off? - Of course I was waiting for the Leb' wohl, which was sung very good, but I can't get moist eyes when Wotan stands and delivers! Only in the last part, about the blue eyes, do they run across the width of the stage into each other's arms. Again of course not the fault of the singers but the director. Did he try to replicate the static performances during Wagner's time, or was he simply clueless about the drama?

There is an explanation about my cool reception of this performance: I am spoiled by the cameras on my DVDs, showing me every flicker of  an eyelash and the molars of the soprano. It was brought home to me that I had forgotten the times, years ago, when I attended all operas live, most of them SRO way up there and facial expressions were not visible. Then came all the technical advantages with multiple cameras roving all over the stage but last night I was almost as far away from the action as I was in my younger years, for a few Deutsche Marks then, 323 American Dollars now! - And no sound control knob in my hand! - On second thought, though: I didn't have those problems during my Seattle Tristan und Isolde, Philip Glass, etc., where I didn't sit much closer to the stage, maybe ten rows but out from under the balcony! - But being up there on top of the raked audience I got the bonus of being able to watch Robert Spano, the conductor, visible from shoulders on up, something very few DVDs let me see! When Skelton does his 'Welsung', at least ten seconds of it, Spano just stands there waiting for Siegmund to run out of breath - or so it seemed to me! In all, I was convinced that Spano was much much slower than any conductor I heard or saw do this opera, but I did compare with some of my records and he is right in there in the ball park with Boulez, for instance, who is only 4 minutes faster. It only seemed slow to me because I was bored. Believe it, I dozed off already in the beginning with those twins recognising each other, and then a few more scenes. During the last intermission I had to take drastic measures: Coffee! I had not had a sip of coffee since I quit smoking six years ago, and there is in the opera lobby an array of coffee thermoses 'Honor Coffee $2.00'. I dropped my two bucks in the basket and poured two inches of the stuff in a plastic cup, added three packets of sugar and sipped the espresso-like liquid. I didn't doze off any more, but I also slept only an hour now and then in my hotel bed! I figured I got four hours of sleep in 24 hours of activity!

[Anne]

That's too bad, Liz, about the sound being poor.  I was told several times by others to not sit under an overhang.  After hearing your description, I now know why.