2012 News Milestone No. 8

Metropolitan Opera Completes Lepage Ring Cycle 

Robert Lepage’s concept for the Ring cycle, involving a 45-ton computer-driven shape-shifter that came to be called “the machine,” signaled General Manager Peter Gelb’s determination that the Met be at the forefront in tapping the latest technology for opera production, as he had done for opera in cinematic HD.

Impact: Although Gelb generally gets credit for helping the Met take risks for art’s sake, the new Ring’s $16 million price tag was an issue from the start. Gelb took it on the chin when criticisms were leveled at Lepage for failing to engage Richard Wagner’s aesthetic at its most profound. And the machine, in its 1.0 version, crashed and groaned to acute Met embarrassment. The French Canadian’s staging also missed opportunities to conjure up beloved Wagner fancies that any self-respecting 21st-century machine should be capable of (Alberich as a frog, Brünnhilde’s horse, the end of the world).

Current status: Ten years from now, Lepage’s Ring Cycle may be remembered not so much for what it isn’t, as for what it foretold. The idea of a computer-driven, morphing central apparatus that utilizes the latest integrated digital technologies, and can be employed in a variety of productions, makes sense for a lot of opera companies. Not at $16 million, of course. But DVD players, which once cost $1,000, will be selling this holiday season for $24.95.

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