Man, did I have a blast last night. We attended the final performance of Washington National Opera's Die Walkuere. This was the first installment of the Ring that I've seen in live performance, and now I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing; sure wish I hadn't missed last season's Das Rheingold. After last night, at least Die Walkuere is a lot more clear. The seemingly immortal Placido Domingo was Siegmund. The program notes said Domingo knows 124 rolls (his Web site says 123), either one of which boggles the mind (see below). Before the curtain went up, a WNO functionary came out and said PD had a head cold that had moved down to his throat; to groans in the audience, she said he would do his best but it was possible he would not be able to finish. Pro that he is, the 66-year-old Domingo made it all the way before falling to Hunding's sword near the end of Act 2. The sets were fantastic! I am very stodgy when it comes to the classics, especially ones I haven't seen before; I want to know why they have endured for all these years. So when, at the start of Act 2, Valhalla was portrayed as a New York City skyscraper, and Wotan was dressed in a modern business suit and looking like Tony Soprano as Chairman of the Board, I was not optimistic. But it worked, as did the modest attempts to make the dialogue a bit more modern (the phrase "boggles my mind" and "that Valkyrie gang" were seen). Speaking of Wotan, Alan Held was spectacular. Other modern touches to contrast with what I assume was a rather traditional Act 1: The Valkyries looked like motorcycle babes, and the projected background for their "Ride" was a series of jet fighters and helicopters. This being Washington, D.C., it might not surprise people to hear that in the audience just two rows ahead of us were Donald Rumsfeld and Newt Gingrich. Now before you sneer, let me say that not only were there no photogs or hangers-on, but they stayed til the end. With Die Walkuere lasting four hours, forty-five minutes (two intermissions), that shows...something. Mitch Friedfeld *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html