Half Rung

So, I'm two operas done, two to go in the Ring Cycle in Brisbane.

I have thoughts!   Some, briefly, because I'm busy at work:

*   most famous person I have seen in the audience (and I was walking beside him on the way to the pub for an intermission dinner last night) - David Faulkner from Hoodoo Gurus.   I'm positive it's him, although he also seems to be in the company of  people who don't look at all like former rock people.   I don't know - I don't think I have ever been game to say hello to a famous person in public, even if I like their work and want to say something blandly nice like "love your work".   (I think it's a travesty that ACDC became the world famous loud guitar rock band from Australia over the Hoodoos, by the way.)

*  The staging:  very good for the most part, but a bit "fussy" in some bits.   But really - you're likely never going to be ecstatic about every artistic decision make over 15 or so hours of theatre.   

*  The singer's performances - seem pretty good to me, but I'm not an expert.

*  The orchestra's performance - from what I can gather, this is causing the most controversy, with some saying it's not "exciting" enough, but others perfectly satisfied.   Again, from a non expert point of view: I can see how there is a bit of an issue with this opera that it is easy to overwhelm the voices, and finding the balance between both is the trick, I guess.   For what it's worth, I think that the orchestra is doing well enough, but I think I can also see where some of the criticism is coming from, because in my (again, completely non expert opinion) the Opera North production which I have watched in full on Youtube did have a more dramatic feel to the performance.  I would be curious to see if the third cycle is the best for their performance, or if they will be exhausted by then.  

*  I have been reading about how Wagner created the operas and now understand a lot more about why so  much has been written about them - more on that in a separate post, I think.

*  The first opera didn't invade my dreams, but last night's Die Walkure did.  I forget the details, but there were swords, and confusion at work about Nordic names and how I had to fix errors in them.   Just what I need - Wagner invading one of those generic anxiety dreams that never seems to end!