Act I blends analog theater with the virtual: Stage snow falls in the background while, farther downstage, the planks evoke a wood ceiling dimly lit by flickering fire. Lepage achieves something more refined while still exploiting the machine’s potential. (The scenic design is heavily reliant on animating the machine with video projections.)Īnthony Tommasini, in The New York Times, called it “the most frustrating opera production I have ever had to grapple with.” Alex Ross, in The New Yorker, went so far as to say, “Pound for pound, ton for ton, it is the most witless and wasteful production in modern operatic history.”īut with some distance, the projections are sharper - especially the pebbles of the Rhine, animated to roll around under the Rhinemaidens’ fins - and acrobatic moments, like the descent into Nibelheim and the crossing of the Rainbow Bridge, inspire awe. Lepage’s production: a hulking kinetic sculpture made of 24 planks that spin into a variety of configurations conjuring the dozen-plus sets called for in Wagner’s four-opera saga.

Most of the critics loathed the 45-ton machine at the heart of Mr.

This wasn’t the “Ring” I read about in the press, though. The “Ring” I remember was musically imperfect but visually awesome, with moments of stunning grandeur. When the Metropolitan Opera began to roll out Robert Lepage’s production of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, in 2010, I was a student who spent most of my time at the Met in the Family Circle - the uppermost, least expensive seats.

The ring at the metropolitan opera