The Seattle Ring is likely to be the most beautiful Ring in current memory, or perhaps ever. In contrast to the more or less bizarre “concepts” of Francesca Zambello, Achim Freyer, Robert Lepage, and Frank Castorf, Stephen Wadsworth gave us gave us a production that was faithful to Wagner’s intentions. Only one directorial decision seemed out of place: the confrontation between Wotan and Fricka in Act 2 of Die Walküre took place at Hunding’s hut rather than in Valhalla or at a “wild, craggy place” that the stage directions call for. The idea was that Wotan and Fricka are visiting the scene of the crime of Act 1. Not an entirely outrageous idea, but one that did raise eyebrows.
The scenery of the Seattle Ring was intended to echo that of the Pacific Northwest, specifically that of Hurricane Ridge on the Olympic Peninsula. The attempt was quite successful; the day after Götterdämmerung found me at Mason Lake, and the appearance of the forest was a strong reminder of what I had recently seen on stage.
Das Rheingold opens in the Rhine (in the Rhine, as Anna Russell put it). This Rhine had a rocky bottom, rising strongly upwards on the right, with a promontory in the middle. The lump of gold that Alberich will steal and forge into a ring was positioned at the top of this promontory. To avoid being seen before the sunlight hit it, it was covered by a dark cloth. At the appropriate moment, a stagehand removed the cloth to expose the gold. In a masterpiece of staging, the three Rhinedaughters (not Rhinemaidens, Speight Jenkins frequently admonished us) were supported on trapezes high in the air. They could rotate about their hips, and with the aid of two stagehands per Rhinedaughter pulling on ropes “swim” up and down and left and right. It was a low-key but very impressive spectacle.
Act 1 Scene 2 is set in the forest, with a projection in back of the newly-constructed Valhalla. Douglas firs grew out of a low grassy ridge; a former giant of the forest lay on its side at the summit of the ridge. To the right was a rocky face with an entrance to a cave, from which Alberich’s slaves would later emerge carrying the gold to ransom Freia. It was this scene that was most evocative of the Pacific Northwest and the forest around Mason Lake.
Scene 3 in Nibelheim looked like the side of a cave, with horizontal ledges of black coal as the primary feature and many sections of golden-colored rock that looked like glowing briquets. Most of the action took place on a projecting ledge with an opening behind it. The singers were lit from the sides, so that all Alberich had to do to disappear was to jump backward into that opening and disappear from the light. No puffs of smoke or shrinking under a cape were required.
Scene 4 was the same as Scene 2. The gold blocks that were Freia’s ransom were strange. Rather than rough-hewn blocks in the same size and shape as rocks that you would use to make a rough wall, this gold had a more detailed structure. Some of the pieces looked like bundles of golden sticks.
Die Walküre Act 1 takes place in Hunding’s hut, where he lives with Sieglinde in a forced marriage. To the left was a dark, dense, nearly impenetrable forest with a small path through it. The stage was dominated by the hut on the right, a large quarter-dome-style structure made of rough-hewn wood with a tremendous tree trunk growing up through the middle of the roof. A table and a couple of chairs rudely constructed from wood were positioned near the base of the tree. Nothung, the sword in the tree, was very effectively hidden until it was needed.
Act 2 continued in Hunding’s hut, then moved to “a rocky pass” as Wagner specified. To the left was a sheer rock wall; in the center a flat area; to the right a forest that rose up quickly yet gradually enough to permit a trail with two switchbacks. For the Annunciation of Death scene, Brünnhilde appeared at the upper switchback, overlooking the central flat area.
Act 3 was not “at the summit of a rocky mountain” but rather high up a mountain of sheer rock. All of the action took place on a relatively narrow path about ten feet above the stage floor. This path curved around the left side of the mountain. Behind the path was the entrance to a cave, and the rock face soared upward out of sight above the cave.
Siegfried Act 1 repurposed the set of Das Rheingold Acts 2 and 4, with the addition of a rude wooden shelter just to the left and above the cave entrance. Act 2 was back at the set of the second part of Die Walküre Act 2. A bloody spot on the sheer rock face on the left marked the spot at which Hunding had killed Siegmund. There was now a hole in that rock face through which we could see the tail of Fafner the dragon. When the dragon came out of his cave to fight Siegfried, the head and neck came around from in back of the rock face. The first part of Act 3 was new scenery, a completely vertical rock face of red sandstone. It was not particularly smooth; there were enough features in it that I could imagine an expert climber finding enough footholds and handholds to climb it. The final part of Act 3 was back at Brünnhilde’s rock, the same set as Act 3 of Die Walküre.
Götterdämmerung opened with the Norns singing in front of the red standstone cliff of Siegfried Act 3 Scene 1; the second prologue with Siegfried and Brünnhilde took place on Brünnhilde’s rock. The Hall of the Gibichungs was mostly wooden walls made up of heavy wooden beams and posts for the main structure and thin vertical slats for the surfaces of the walls. The beams were carved with various symbols and representations of Teutonic and Nordic mythology. Speight confirmed someone’s observation that it was designed to look like a Norwegian stave church. Act 1 concluded back at Brünnhilde’s rock. Act 2 was back at the Hall of the Gibichungs. Scene 1 of Act 3 found us back at the spot where Hunding killed Siegmund, but now a small pool had been added for the Rhinedaughters to play in. Hagen killed Siegfried at the same spot that Siegmund had been killed. Scene 2 was back at the Hall of the Gibichungs. For the finale, a lot went on. A small circular floating platform bearing all of the principal characters sort of drifted around and above the stage. After more sleight-of-hand with scrims and projections, we ended up almost where we started, with the forest scene of Das Rheingold Scene 2.
Our cast:
Woglinde: Jennifer Zetlan
Wellgunde: Cecelia Hall
Flosshilde: Renee Tatum
Alberich: Richard Paul Fink
Fricka: Stephanie Blythe
Wotan: Greer Grimsley
Freia: Wendy Bryn Harmer
Fasolt: Andrea Silvestrelli
Fafner: Daniel Sumegi
Froh: Ric Furman
Donner: Markus Brück
Loge: Mark Schowalter
Mime: Dennis Petersen
Erda: Lucille Beer
Siegmund: Stuart Skelton
Sieglinde: Margaret Jane Wray
Hunding: Andrea Silvestrelli
Brünnhilde: Alwyn Mellor
Gerhilde: Wendy Bryn Harmer
Helmwige: Jessica Klein
Waltraute (Die Walküre): Suzanne Hendrix
Schwertleite: Luretta Bybee
Ortlinde: Tamara Mancini
Siegrune: Sarah Heitzel
Grimgerde: Renee Tatum
Rossweisse: Cecelia Hall
Siegfried: Stefan Vinke
Forest Bird: Jennifer Zetlan
First Norn: Luretta Bybee
Second Norn: Stephanie Blythe
Third Norn: Margaret Jane Wray
Gunther: Markus Brück
Hagen: Daniel Sumegi
Gutrune: Wendy Bryn Harmer
Waltraute (Götterdämmerung): Stephanie Blythe
Conductor: Asher Fisch
Director: Stephen Wadsworth
It was a wonderful experience all the way around. I envy my friends who attended two or even all three cycles. The most outstanding singers were Stefan Vinke as Siegfried and Stephanie Blythe in her various roles. I finally figured out a way to communicate what it was like to see Rita Hunter, who had blown me away as Brünnhilde in my first Ring cycle in 1980: take Stephanie Blythe, add a hundred pounds, raise her voice into soprano territory, and you’d have the Rita Hunter that I remember. Stefan Vinke had everything that you could want in a Siegfried. I’m also a big Andrea Silvestrelli fan, and he did not disappoint. Ric Furman made a more authoritative Froh than I usually see. Alywn Mellor sang well, but she had an annoying and distracting back-and-forth head motion. The orchestra under Ascher Fisch was wonderful, aside from more bloopers from the horns than I would expect from an orchestra of this level. A superb experience, but short of an alpha.
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