A Wagner Marathon

I was at my parents' house yesterday and my Mom was telling me about a documentary that she and my Dad had watched the previous night.  It was called Wagner's Dream and it aired on PBS.  It's a documentary that takes the viewer behind the scenes of the rehearsals and staging of Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Met in New York. 

The Met set out to stage all four of operas in the Ring Cycle with a decidedly modern and high-tech approach, something very new for the Met.  Filmmaker Susan Froemke documented the 6 year journey that director Robert Lepage took to bring to life four of the most difficult operas to stage, a challenge that many a director has struggled with including Wagner himself.

I quickly pulled up the app on my phone that lets me find and record programs.  While I was sadly unable to find a rebroadcast of Wagner's Dream, I did learn that all four operas directed by Lepage are being shown on PBS this week.  I have successfully set my DVR to record all of them and I'm looking forward to my own personal Wagner marathon.  Hopefully they will rebroadcast the documentary soon as well.  To learn more about this ambitious project visit:

http://wagnersdream.metoperafamily.org/

And if you're not sure you'll like Wagner, here's a pretty good introduction to get you ready:


What's Opera Doc?