How intense is Peter Gelb‘s new “Ring” cycle? Intense enough that the set is in danger of collapsing the stage.
According to today’s Times, the Met has installed three 65-foot girders underneath the stage to support the 45-ton set for Wagner’s four epic operas. The paper says the structure is “the most extensive work yet to prepare for a new production there.”
Much has been made of the upcoming cycle, which comes to the Met during a time of economic difficulties, and promises to be some of the most ambitious work to come out of an already ambitious new direction. “Das Rheingold,” the shortest of the “Ring” operas, is two and a half hours long, and without intermission.
And what does the weighty set for the weighty production look like? To envision it the Times prompts you to “imagine a series of see-saws placed side by side, that can move independently and collectively levitate.”
Levitating see-saws? Sign us up!
