Pacific Symphony, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
April 15, 2025
I was perusing my local Buy Nothing group as I often do and saw a post that began, “Any opera lovers out there?’ I texted Julie to see if she was willing to drive to Costa Mesa, because in the past she has not been willing. I offered to drive from my house if she wanted to meet me, which she originally agreed to do. So I threw my hat into the (cursed) ring and lo and behold, I was the only one interested. And so I found myself with free tickets for Wagner.
Once Julie realized she was driving a considerable distance out of her way to meet at my house, she opted to meet in Costa Mesa. Part of the fun of going to see a show in Costa Mesa is that you get to go to Boudin for dinner beforehand. She called me from the South Coast Plaza parking lot just as I was getting off the freeway so our timing was pretty good – despite the fact that Maps took her on surface streets for a considerable distance because the freeways were so bad. We had plenty of time to eat and make our way across the street. During dinner, Julie warned me that Das Rheingold is a hard opera and we might be ready to leave at intermission. I told her that I looked it up earlier so I knew enough of the story that I should be able to follow along. We decided to pay for parking rather than chance it in the South Coast Plaza lot because the opera is loooong and I was afraid the lot would close before we could get back to our cars. This was my first time to the concert hall so we parked in the lot that appeared to be closest to it. Parking was $15 and fairly close. There were signs pointing us in the right direction and at the first screening checkpoint we saw, someone asked if we were there for the opera and then since we didn’t already have tickets in hand, he pointed us to another entrance near Will Call. Claiming the tickets was super easy and we even had a few minutes to stop at the little photo booth kiosks they had set up in the lobby before heading to our seats. It turned out that we had what we call “weird box seats”. They were actually perfect. We had a great view – not too high up, and not too far to the side. There was only one other person in our 4 person box.
We were there for the final of 3 performances, which were billed as “semi-staged”. The staging was cleverly done with the orchestra set up at the back of the stage with a series of small platforms and three screens in front of them. There was another long screen placed up high behind them and the English subtitle crawl was over that screen. During the course of the show, they projected images on the long screen to set the scene: water, clouds, the castle, etc. The 3 screens on stage were used to enhance the scene with more water or clouds, but were also used to show the gold and for the actors to hide behind. In several parts, projections were also shown on the curtains and walls behind the orchestra.
In the first scene, the three Rhinemaidens, dressed on flowy gowns of greens and blues and waving silk banners to represent water encounter a dwarf, Alberich. They tease and torment him but give him a glimpse of their magic gold which, after renouncing love in order to use its powers, he steals. The voices, acting and staging was all great. Even the lighting was spot on. As the sun hit the gold to sparkle, the lighting changed to make the Rhinemaidens sparkle as well.
Scene 2 finds us in the gods’ lair with Wotan, the ruler of the gods and his wife Fricka soon joined by the other gods. Two giants have labored to build a castle for Wotan and they come for their payment: Fricka’s sister Freia. The gods are reluctant to give up Freia and try to bargain with the giants. A demi-god, Loge shows up with a plan to steal the magic gold ring from Alberich.
In the next scene, they arrive in Alberich’s lair, Nibelheim, just after Alberich has obtained a magic helmet from his brother Mime and beaten him mercilessly. Alberich has enslaved all of his people and forced them to mine gold for him. He has amassed a considerable amount of gold with the use of the magic ring and can change into different shapes with the use of the helmet. Alberich lords over Nibelheim from the balcony behind the orchestra. And from this location, he shape shifts into the form of a snake. Loge tricks him into transforming into a toad and the toad’s movement is projected across the front 3 screens until he is caught by Wotan.
Finally they are back on the mountain with the castle in the distance. Wotan forces Alberich to bring all of his hoard of gold to the mountaintop and then forces him to give up the magic ring and magic helmet as well. Alberich puts a curse on the ring dooming the owner to misfortune and death and inspiring jealousy in those around them. They stack the gold in front of Freia to appease the giants, but must give up the magic helmet to make the stack high enough. The ring must also be forfeited in order to appease the giants, but Wotan refuses to give it up until the Earth goddess, Erda arrives and sings (from the balcony again and with projections mimicking a tree) telling him he will be doomed if he doesn’t give up the ring. He reluctantly gives it up and then one of the giants kills the other and takes all the gold. The opera ends after the god of thunder summons a storm and the god of spring creates a rainbow at which all of the gods walk across the rainbow to the castle, Valhalla and turn their backs on the audience.
The whole thing was just so well-done, we couldn’t stop talking about it. Our most recent comparisons have been LA Opera and we couldn’t get over the difference in quality – even in a “semi-staged” production vs. the fully staged productions at the Dorothy Chandler. It wasn’t just slightly better, it was better by leaps and bounds. I hope to see another opera with Pacific Symphony again soon.