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| At Bayreuth, Boos and Dropped Jaws | At Bayreuth, Boos and Dropped Jaws |
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| BAYREUTH, Germany — It has become almost an expected part of the Bayreuth Festival tradition that the audience boos when the director of a radical new production takes a curtain call. But there is booing, and then there is the kind of demonstration that happened here on Wednesday night at the end of “Götterdämmerung.” The occasion was the fourth, and final, installment of the festival’s new production of Wagner’s “Ring,” the most anticipated event of the international celebrations for Wagner’s bicentennial. | BAYREUTH, Germany — It has become almost an expected part of the Bayreuth Festival tradition that the audience boos when the director of a radical new production takes a curtain call. But there is booing, and then there is the kind of demonstration that happened here on Wednesday night at the end of “Götterdämmerung.” The occasion was the fourth, and final, installment of the festival’s new production of Wagner’s “Ring,” the most anticipated event of the international celebrations for Wagner’s bicentennial. |
| When Frank Castorf, the avant-garde German director responsible for this confounding concept, took the stage with his production team, almost the entire audience, it seemed, erupted with loud, prolonged boos. It went on for nearly 10 minutes, by my watch, because Mr. Castorf, 62, who has been running the Volksbühne (People’s Theater) of Berlin since 1992, stood steadfast onstage, his arms folded stiffly. He sometimes jabbed a finger at the audience, essentially defying the crowd to keep it coming. | When Frank Castorf, the avant-garde German director responsible for this confounding concept, took the stage with his production team, almost the entire audience, it seemed, erupted with loud, prolonged boos. It went on for nearly 10 minutes, by my watch, because Mr. Castorf, 62, who has been running the Volksbühne (People’s Theater) of Berlin since 1992, stood steadfast onstage, his arms folded stiffly. He sometimes jabbed a finger at the audience, essentially defying the crowd to keep it coming. |
| At one point, Kirill Petrenko, the conductor of the “Ring,” and the hero of the week, stepped out to try to escort Mr. Castorf and his colleagues to the sides. Mr. Petrenko wanted the curtain to go up so that the orchestra, which had assembled onstage for its own collective bow (a Bayreuth ritual), could be acknowledged. Mr. Castorf would not budge. So the curtain was raised, anyway, and the audience broke into deafening cheers directed at these impressive musicians, who over a six-day period under the insightful Mr. Petrenko played an exceptionally glowing, sumptuous and nuanced performance of Wagner’s “Ring” in the acoustically sublime house the composer designed. | At one point, Kirill Petrenko, the conductor of the “Ring,” and the hero of the week, stepped out to try to escort Mr. Castorf and his colleagues to the sides. Mr. Petrenko wanted the curtain to go up so that the orchestra, which had assembled onstage for its own collective bow (a Bayreuth ritual), could be acknowledged. Mr. Castorf would not budge. So the curtain was raised, anyway, and the audience broke into deafening cheers directed at these impressive musicians, who over a six-day period under the insightful Mr. Petrenko played an exceptionally glowing, sumptuous and nuanced performance of Wagner’s “Ring” in the acoustically sublime house the composer designed. |
| The “Ring,” a towering achievement in the performing arts, is a touchstone for any opera house and director, but obviously holds a special place here. The mythological world Wagner created in these four epic operas has made the cycle especially fertile for high-minded, high-concept directors (including Robert Lepage at the Metropolitan Opera) — and for the close scrutiny of the legions of “Ring” fans who travel the earth for its performances. | The “Ring,” a towering achievement in the performing arts, is a touchstone for any opera house and director, but obviously holds a special place here. The mythological world Wagner created in these four epic operas has made the cycle especially fertile for high-minded, high-concept directors (including Robert Lepage at the Metropolitan Opera) — and for the close scrutiny of the legions of “Ring” fans who travel the earth for its performances. |
| As I wrote in my review of the first two installments, “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre,” Mr. Castorf presents the “Ring” as a metaphorical story of the global quest for oil, with the resulting era of war, oppression, corporate greed and environmental destruction. But Mr. Castorf did not follow through with this theme very consistently. | As I wrote in my review of the first two installments, “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre,” Mr. Castorf presents the “Ring” as a metaphorical story of the global quest for oil, with the resulting era of war, oppression, corporate greed and environmental destruction. But Mr. Castorf did not follow through with this theme very consistently. |
| In the first act of “Siegfried,”which opened on Monday, Mr. Castorf and the set designer, Aleksandar Denic, playfully evoke the battle over energy that was a major component of the cold war. The setting is supposed to show the forest dwelling where Mime, the Nibelung dwarf, has raised the orphaned Siegfried into brawny young manhood. Here Mime’s home is a trailer-park campsite in front of a stunning scenic riff on Mount Rushmore: The faces of the American presidents have been replaced by Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. But often the oil quest imagery just seems slapped on, literally: for no clear reasons, singers smear one another with crude oil. | |
| Mr. Castorf’s deeper fault, it seems, was cynically to undercut the musical drama during some of the most romantic, poignant and heroic scenes. My earnest attempt to be open-minded about this baffling “Ring” almost foundered for good near the end of “Siegfried” when (you can’t make this up) a monster crocodile swallowed the poor Forest Bird in one big gulp. | Mr. Castorf’s deeper fault, it seems, was cynically to undercut the musical drama during some of the most romantic, poignant and heroic scenes. My earnest attempt to be open-minded about this baffling “Ring” almost foundered for good near the end of “Siegfried” when (you can’t make this up) a monster crocodile swallowed the poor Forest Bird in one big gulp. |
| This last scene, of course, is the ecstatic love duet between Siegfried, our rambunctious hero (who, by the way, instead of forging a sword assembles a semiautomatic rifle), and the smitten Brünnhilde. In this production, at the most climactic moment in the music, the stage rotated to reveal two of those monster crocodiles busily copulating. | This last scene, of course, is the ecstatic love duet between Siegfried, our rambunctious hero (who, by the way, instead of forging a sword assembles a semiautomatic rifle), and the smitten Brünnhilde. In this production, at the most climactic moment in the music, the stage rotated to reveal two of those monster crocodiles busily copulating. |
| Looking hungry after sex, the squiggling reptiles, their jaws flapping, headed toward Siegfried and Brünnhilde, who were singing away. | Looking hungry after sex, the squiggling reptiles, their jaws flapping, headed toward Siegfried and Brünnhilde, who were singing away. |
| As the reptiles crawled closer, the Forest Bird, presented here as an alluring young woman (the soprano Mirella Hagen), burst upon the stage to save the day. Of course, the Forest Bird was not supposed to be in this scene, but who cares what Wagner wrote? This fetching Forest Bird bravely fought off one crocodile by jabbing a pole down its throat. But the other one opened wide and swallowed her whole. Throughout, Siegfried and Brünnhilde seemed only mildly concerned. But then, in Mr. Castorf’s staging, they also seemed only mildly concerned with each other, a much bigger problem. | As the reptiles crawled closer, the Forest Bird, presented here as an alluring young woman (the soprano Mirella Hagen), burst upon the stage to save the day. Of course, the Forest Bird was not supposed to be in this scene, but who cares what Wagner wrote? This fetching Forest Bird bravely fought off one crocodile by jabbing a pole down its throat. But the other one opened wide and swallowed her whole. Throughout, Siegfried and Brünnhilde seemed only mildly concerned. But then, in Mr. Castorf’s staging, they also seemed only mildly concerned with each other, a much bigger problem. |
| There was genuine ardor in the singing of the principals during this transformational duet. Siegfried, the Canadian tenor Lance Ryan, looks suitably youthful and brash. His muscular voice is rather leathery, and his sustained notes tend to wobble. Still, he sings this near-impossible role with energy and stamina and makes the words come alive. Brünnhilde, the English soprano Catherine Foster, has a clear, penetrating sound. Her softer phrases sometimes turn thin and weak. But when she lets go, her singing is incisive and exciting. | There was genuine ardor in the singing of the principals during this transformational duet. Siegfried, the Canadian tenor Lance Ryan, looks suitably youthful and brash. His muscular voice is rather leathery, and his sustained notes tend to wobble. Still, he sings this near-impossible role with energy and stamina and makes the words come alive. Brünnhilde, the English soprano Catherine Foster, has a clear, penetrating sound. Her softer phrases sometimes turn thin and weak. But when she lets go, her singing is incisive and exciting. |
| But Mr. Castorf undermines every passionate flourish in their performances during this crucial scene, which begins at the Marxist Mount Rushmore, then moves to an almost-reproduction of the Alexanderplatz, the Socialist-era transit hub and shopping center in Berlin. As Ms. Foster’s Brünnhilde voiced plaintive thoughts about the joy and fear this new love has stirred in her, Mr. Ryan’s Siegfried moped around, looking already bored by his first experience of a lover’s romantic effusions. | But Mr. Castorf undermines every passionate flourish in their performances during this crucial scene, which begins at the Marxist Mount Rushmore, then moves to an almost-reproduction of the Alexanderplatz, the Socialist-era transit hub and shopping center in Berlin. As Ms. Foster’s Brünnhilde voiced plaintive thoughts about the joy and fear this new love has stirred in her, Mr. Ryan’s Siegfried moped around, looking already bored by his first experience of a lover’s romantic effusions. |
| By the way, just before the opera ends, Siegfried opens the jaws of the crocodile and pulls out the Forest Bird, with whom he had a little tryst in Act II. (Don’t get me started.) | By the way, just before the opera ends, Siegfried opens the jaws of the crocodile and pulls out the Forest Bird, with whom he had a little tryst in Act II. (Don’t get me started.) |
| And so it goes. Sometimes the initial impression of a scene is compelling. In Act I of “Götterdämmerung,” the hall of the Gibichungs, a prosperous family, is presented as a tall chemical-works station, with neon signs advertising plastic products and a dingy warehouse interior, including a grimy bar where the vassals who work for the family buy drinks and snacks. | |
| Gunther (the earthy baritone Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester), the head of the family, sports punk-blond hair, while his malevolent half-brother Hagen (the gravelly-voiced but chilling bass Attila Jun) prefers a mohawk cut. There have been whole punk-themed “Ring” productions, of course. Still, for almost the first two acts of “Götterdämmerung,” Mr. Castorf’s staging gains some coherence and resonance. | Gunther (the earthy baritone Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester), the head of the family, sports punk-blond hair, while his malevolent half-brother Hagen (the gravelly-voiced but chilling bass Attila Jun) prefers a mohawk cut. There have been whole punk-themed “Ring” productions, of course. Still, for almost the first two acts of “Götterdämmerung,” Mr. Castorf’s staging gains some coherence and resonance. |
| But then he has to sabotage the final scene of Act II, which centers on Brünnhilde, who has been betrayed by Siegfried, though only after he was drugged into forgetting her and falling for Gutrune, the Gibichung sister. The bitter Brünnhilde plots with Hagen to take revenge. | But then he has to sabotage the final scene of Act II, which centers on Brünnhilde, who has been betrayed by Siegfried, though only after he was drugged into forgetting her and falling for Gutrune, the Gibichung sister. The bitter Brünnhilde plots with Hagen to take revenge. |
| First, however, Ms. Foster scurried up a stairway to consult a hairy-chested man, who wheels a baby carriage down the stairs, spilling its contents — potatoes — everywhere. At least they looked like potatoes. If you are expecting me to explain this (or Wotan’s being orally serviced — one Rhinemaiden sucking oil off the finger of another as they look longingly into each other’s eyes), I am sorry to disappoint you. | First, however, Ms. Foster scurried up a stairway to consult a hairy-chested man, who wheels a baby carriage down the stairs, spilling its contents — potatoes — everywhere. At least they looked like potatoes. If you are expecting me to explain this (or Wotan’s being orally serviced — one Rhinemaiden sucking oil off the finger of another as they look longingly into each other’s eyes), I am sorry to disappoint you. |
| The singers give their all to what must have been a perplexing assignment, especially the formidable baritone Wolfgang Koch as a volatile Wanderer (Wotan) in “Siegfried.” Two standouts are the tenor Burkhard Ulrich, a snarling and wily, yet bookish and bespectacled Mime, and the soprano Allison Oakes, who brought a warm voice and sympathy to Gutrune. | The singers give their all to what must have been a perplexing assignment, especially the formidable baritone Wolfgang Koch as a volatile Wanderer (Wotan) in “Siegfried.” Two standouts are the tenor Burkhard Ulrich, a snarling and wily, yet bookish and bespectacled Mime, and the soprano Allison Oakes, who brought a warm voice and sympathy to Gutrune. |
| There are images that will stay with me, especially some of the videos of singers in close-up taken by a crew that follows them around. Now and then, Mr. Castorf had me thinking freshly about dark or foolish aspects of Wagner’s characters. | There are images that will stay with me, especially some of the videos of singers in close-up taken by a crew that follows them around. Now and then, Mr. Castorf had me thinking freshly about dark or foolish aspects of Wagner’s characters. |
| But the entitlement and hostility that Mr. Castorf conveyed while staring down the booing Bayreuth audience seemed revealing: this was a director who wanted to get a reaction. He got it. | But the entitlement and hostility that Mr. Castorf conveyed while staring down the booing Bayreuth audience seemed revealing: this was a director who wanted to get a reaction. He got it. |
There are two additional performances of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany through Aug. 27; bayreuther-festspiele.de. |