Wagner: Not For Bladder-Challenged
An L.A. Times writer ‘is ever so excited that the Los Angeles Opera production of Richard Wagner’s “Das Rheingold (pictured)” — the first opera in Wagner’s epic 15-hour, four-opera cycle “The Ring of the Nibelungs” — is opening Saturday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The production kicks off a two-year “Ring”-o-rama for the opera company: All four operas, directed by Achim Freyer, will be presented singly in 2009 and 2010, and performances of the four operas in sequence will be given between May 29 and June 26, 2010. But even the Monster could not help but be alarmed upon receiving e-mail notice from the L.A. Opera that the running time of “Das Rheingold” is 2 hours, 45 minutes — and that it will be performed without intermission. And much of the action takes place in and around the Rhine River — well, that’s a lot of water imagery, given the circumstances. Do we need to spell it out? Applause isn’t the only thing you’ll have to hold until the end.’
