"Art Harnessing Technology"

The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Das Rheingold, broadcast to cinemas around the globe on October 9, 2010, exhibited a superb harmony between music, acting, and technology. Director Robert Lepage said, “It was important that we create a set machine that would have versatility, but at the same time feel very organic.”¹ Through the use of an innovative set, screen projection, and cables, this production succeeded in having the versatility and maintaining the fantasy a production of Das Rheingold needs.

The set consisted of 24 aluminum and fiberglass planks that rotated on a steel axis that could create many different shapes rather quickly. This adaptable set benefited the production by decreasing the performance length, solving staging problems, and creating illusions that made the opera more believable. With the use of hydraulics, the “Valhalla machine” easily changed from the Rhine, to a plateau, to Nibelheim, and other places in the work. The set allowed for large structures in each scene without requiring lengthy scene changes and intermissions. Opera can encounter difficulty in trying to portray a vast journey in a fixed area. One of my favorite advantages of the set is its allowance for depiction of Wotan and Loge’s decent to Nibelheim on a huge tilted staircase that gave us almost a bird’s eye view. This created the illusion of depth making the production surprisingly realistic. I also appreciated how the machine enabled a variation in height levels. This height variation permitted the giants to be placed above the Gods which made them appear bigger than they were and contributed to their commanding presence.

The ability to project images and colors onto the set made the production lifelike. Creating realism within folklore, the pebbles in the Rhine moved underneath the flitting fins of the Rhinemaidens. Warm, gold colors were projected both to represent the glow of the Rheingold, and the forges of Nibelheim creating ambience and further contributing to realism. The use of projection instantaneously produced the rainbow bridge needed for the gods to traverse to Valhalla. Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, said of the projection, “this is not meant to be a light show. These changes are subtle and in context of the story. It’s art harnessing technology, not the other way around. At least that is the intention.” ² Boris Firquet, the video image artist, succeeded in making these images contribute to the story rather than distracting from it.

The use of cables in this production allowed the stage to be transformed into another world and add dimension to the characters. The Rhinemaidens were dark, glittering mermaids, swimming around the stage. By having these women sing in the air, the whole stage seemed immersed in water, which solved the problem of how to replicate the Rhine. This also allowed for the women to have fins further giving a sense of something mystical and different from quotidian life. The use of cables made the gods appear more godlike, as gravity did not seem to apply to them. In the final scene, the gods ascend the rainbow bridge to Valhalla almost vertically.

I give this production a ten out of ten. The use of technology to transport me to Wagner’s world of the Rhine was impressive. The employment of the set, projection, and cables did not distract but rather drew me in, and made the stylized opera have a realistic feel. The production left me longing for more. I’m looking forward to Die Walküre this coming spring.

1. 1. "Das Rheingold." Press Releases. Web. 03 Nov. 2010.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/press/detail.aspx?id=12448>.

22. Wakin, Daniel J. "The Valhalla Machine." The New York Times. 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. .