Ring Nuts

September 19th, 2009

Was it the gentleman seated next to me at the symposium who told me that he had six subscriptions to New York’s Metropolitan Opera? Was it the gentleman who told me about how his seatmate at the Ring Cycle in Bayreuth, Germany had passed out from the heat (and lack of air conditioning), and, once revived, had decided to watch the rest of the four hour-long opera from the floor? Was it the choreographer Mark Morris, who, minutes before curtain at Seattle Opera’s Gotterdammerung this August, told me, “This is the only theater in the world with enough womens bathrooms”? Was it the guy who packs Ring Cycle-themed doggie bags of food to eat at intermission? I’m not sure which ardent fan of Wagner’s Ring Cycle was my favorite, but I’ve written about them in tomorrow’s New York Times (the story is here).