★★½ Das Rheingold

[Tiny: 2.5]

Tiny says: 'To my wife's great disappointment, I recently purchased a used set of the James Levine/Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner's Ring Cycle. Das Rheingold is the first in the cycle and the shortest, clocking in at a mere 160 minutes or so. The production is a good one for someone like me who is new to these works, as the staging apparently follows Wagner's intentions closely -- no one is dressed up in modern clothes or anything like that. I do not know enough about opera to really judge the singing so I'll ignore that except to note that I enjoyed the performance of the character Alberich. The story was pretty entertaining, full of gods, dwarf-types, and very cool-looking giants, all of whom lust for power and the allure of the magic Rheingold, which can only be harnessed by one who swears to forego love. The sets were sort of stark, and the sub-par quality of the video (which was apparently intended for a PBS television audience) didn't help. I don't have my system hooked up to a real stereo, but the sound seemed pretty good - better than the video. Overall, the DVD gives you the feeling that you are watching in the theater -- to be clear, this is not a "movie" but a video production of a staged music/play. As for Wagner's music -- it is not my favorite, and in following the story/subtitles, I feel like I didn't pay enough attention to it. The booklet that came with the DVD was helpful, with some background and synopses of the scenes (useful to someone like me who had to watch this over several nights).'