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What's this site about?These unofficial pages document my involvement as a supernumerary (extra) in
The What's the Ring Cycle?The Ring cycle consists of four operas:
Wagner intended all four operas be staged in a single week - a monumental undertaking that not many opera houses undertake (other than at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, Germany, that Wagner built for this purpose). The Dallas Opera presents the cycle as one opera per season.
I've participated in Die Walkure (2000), Siegfried (1984 and 2001), and Gotterdammerung (1985 and 2002). My most challenging and enjoyable part has been as The Dragon in Siegfried. What's the plot?The plot is quite complex and more than a little unsavory. Murder, incest, betrayal, and a few magic transformations are all there. Oh, and a few instances of love, too. Valerie and Mike Rudoph's Walhall site has a page with a number of excellent synopses. Any other help in understanding this thing?The Dallas Opera has a great place to learn the synopses of Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, and Siegfried - the "Just For Kids" Flash-enabled site. (Some of the seedier parts have been cleaned up for the young'uns.) Good for adults too (I won't tell), there are surprisingly tough quizzes at the end. If you don't spell the names right you can't pass the quizzes! An excellent, unique insight into what I'll try to describe in these pages is Sing Faster: The Stagehand's Ring Cycle, a documentary of what it's like to be backstage during the production of a full-blown Ring cycle at the San Francisco Opera. (but you probably have to buy the videotape) A hilarious monologue on the plot of The Ring, you should check out Anna Russell. It's a great way to refresh your memory on who's killed whom before you step on stage.
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Dallas Opera's productions of Richard Wagner's great operatic cycle Der
Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring Of The Nibelung), staged in 1982-1985
and again in 1999-2002. The Argentine director Roberto Oswald designed
and is staging both productions.