‘Das Rheingold’ Review: Atlanta Opera Steps Into the ‘Ring’

Directed by Tomer Zvulun, the company’s production of Wagner’s epic lacked a strong overarching concept; in New York, British tenor Allan Clayton delivered a stirring recital at the Park Avenue Armory.

By Heidi Waleson

May 3, 2023 3:42 pm ET

Joseph Barron in ‘Das Rheingold’ PHOTO: KEN HOWARD

Atlanta

In his 10 years as general and artistic director of the Atlanta Opera, Tomer Zvulunhas worked assiduously to put the company on the map by increasing its budget, expanding its performance schedule, and staging nonstandard repertory titles in alternative spaces. His ingenious solution to the in-person performance challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic was to mount operas in a circus tent, with the singers behind plexiglass, and to create a streaming video channel for these and other projects. This season, Atlanta embarked on a major test of any opera company’s artistic, production and financial mettle—Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, directed by Mr. Zvulun. The first opera of the tetralogy, “Das Rheingold,” opened on Saturday at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center; “Die Walküre” is scheduled for next year. 

Any “Ring” production needs to grapple with the fact that this very human tale about power, love and flexible moral codes is enacted by a mix of gods, giants, dwarves, water nymphs and mortals. Magical elements abound, and the finale is the end of the world. Modern productions run the gamut in their efforts to find coherence, but it was hard to discern an overarching concept in this “Rheingold,” which mixed fantasy and modern imagery and relied heavily on projections rather than built scenery, all designed by Erhard Rom. Some of the projected scenic solutions—such as the rocky cave walls and mining technology accompanying the descent into Nibelheim, the giant glass skyscrapers for Valhalla, and the rainbow bridge—were striking and effective. 

Company members as gods ascending to Valhalla

 PHOTO: KEN HOWARD

Mattie Ullrich’s costumes seem to have been designed for a fantasy videogame and had a homemade, school-play look: long robes, glitter, a golden breastplate for Wotan, bizarre elaborate headdresses with curling animal horns and/or tinsel coronas, and lots of facial hair for the giants and the dwarves. The opera is talky, and Mr. Zvulun’s direction was often static. Even explicitly active moments got shortchanged: When Fafner murdered Fasolt by hitting him with a rock, it happened behind a wall. Robert Wierzel’s lighting helped create some atmosphere. 

The singers, an accomplished group, made a positive impression. Greer Grimsley, a veteran Wotan, sang the role of the king of the gods with authority although his bass-baritone sounded worn and leathery. Richard Cox brought a sly forthrightness to Loge, the trickster on whom the gods rely to get them out of trouble; he was a magnetic storyteller. Elizabeth DeShong brought richness and verve to Fricka; Jessica Faselt’s big, bright soprano created a lively Freia. Cadie J. Bryan, Alexandra Razskazoff and Gretchen Krupp made a powerful trio of Rhinemaidens, even in their offstage lament at the end.

Zachary Nelson

PHOTO: KEN HOWARD

As Alberich, baritone Zachary Nelson was tentative in his opening scene with the Rhinemaidens (an ill-fitting prosthetic paunch made the character more ridiculous than usual). But he gained authority and nuance in the Nibelheim scene as Alberich, grandly overconfident with his new power, threatens Wotan and Loge with the destruction of the gods. And in the final scene he brought a vicious bitterness to his curse on all who hold the Ring. Bass Kristinn Sigmundsson was a penetrating Fasolt; Daniel Sumegi a gravelly Fafner. Joseph Barron and Adam Diegel were solid as Donner and Froh; Julius Ahn was a plaintive Mime; Ronnita Miller sounded steely rather than mysterious and earthy as Erda. 

Wagner’s orchestra is a central character in his operas, but it did not pull its weight in Atlanta. The flaccid conducting of Arthur Fagen, the company’s music director, sapped the opera’s dynamism and dramatic tension. The orchestra often sounded subdued in places where it should swell and fill the space—by contrast, the anvils were ear-splittingly loud—and there were several missed solo notes in the brass. “Die Walküre” is longer and harder: The company will need to up its game. 

***

New York

Last year, the British tenor Allan Clayton made an indelible impression at the Metropolitan Opera as the unhinged protagonists of Brett Dean’s “Hamlet” and Benjamin Britten’s “Peter Grimes.” His North American recital debut at the Park Avenue Armory last Thursday doubled down on that persona: the fierce, steely sound that could—and sometimes did—easily overwhelm the small Board of Officers Room, the slightly rumpled appearance, the wild eyes. Mr. Clayton played a character throughout, whether it was the suicidally bereft lover of Schumann’s “Kerner Lieder” or the scarily fatalistic preacher of Priaulx Rainier’s unaccompanied “Cycle for Declamation,” on texts by John Donne. Even the Britten folk-song arrangement, “Sally in our Alley,” had a slyly dangerous edge. Pianist James Baillieu deftly mirrored Mr. Clayton’s precise stylings and diamond-acute articulations, creating Schumann’s pounding rain and the simple, haunting flourishes following each verse in Britten’s “I wonder as I wander.” The Armory’s recital series, now in its 10th year, has become an invaluable place to hear unconventional singers and programs. Next up: Julia Bullock in September. 

Ms. Waleson writes on opera for the Journal and is the author of “Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America” (Metropolitan).