Tristan and Isolde

Wagner requires stamina.    This production of Tristan began at 2:00 and the final curtain was just before 7:00.  I think the 2 intermissions were longer than usual..and needed!  But think of those singers belting out that exquisite music for so long!!

Seattle is a Wagner town..it used to produce the entire Ring cycle in both German and English.  Been there, done that.   No longer.   This is Seattle Opera’s 4th production of Tristan…I only remember the 1998 one with Jane Eaglan and Ben Hepner as the BEST.    It’s all about Love and Death, Night and Day.  Impossible not to be moved. (IMO)

This was a shared production from Argentina with a new approach to sets…virtual reality screens front and back with sort of cartoon drawings that fade and change and then realistic oceans with waves crashing.   I did love the waves…all different in the 3 acts.    MInimal actual set.
And they fit the very old medieval story which takes place on a boat from Ireland to Cornwall, then Cornwall, then to Brittany, France.  The ocean has never been so present!   But not sure about the rest..perhaps because we were on the very edge of the auditorium and they didn’t fit together that well.   But I bet it will be an economic thing of the future…cheaper than building elaborate new sets.  And they can change many times...  (but what could you do different for La Boheme or Rigoletto?)   Couldn’t take photos so you get the auditorium and a 1916 painting of Tristan and Isolde and the Love Potion by John William Waterhouse that was in the program.   I might have just set the figures there in the aisle, but here you can see the water and the boat.    Very few people left before the end. (and they would have missed the best) 

Yes, we are Wagner fans and loved every minute!

Extra...did a quick selection of T and I but it would take more work than I have stamina for tonight....!

Edit…. I played with the extra on  the iPad and switched them… it’s not perfect but maybe more fun.