California Dreamin' (Part VII)

Hey Folks,

So wow, this is WAY overdue. It’s been almost a complete week since I saw Götterdammerung, the final chapter of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, and I’ve been promising to do a wrap-up since that very night. So, for dropping off of the planet, I apologize, but aren’t you proud of me for at least keeping this up pretty regularly? I mean, just scroll through my history on this blog and you’ll see my track record for longevity, so this is pretty “impressive” for me.

Anyway, Götterdammerung. I used to consider this my favorite of the Ring Cycle, because it mixes what I like most about opera and classical music as well as, I think, has the quintessential Wagnerian “BOOM” that his music is oft recognized as. However, after seeing all four, I have to say that Die Walküre is, by far, my favorite. That’s no slight against Götterdammerung at the LA Opera, at all, but rather the experience of Die Walküre was, for me, hard to beat. Götterdammerung was just as amazing as the rest of the Ring Cycle at the LA Opera. It’s hard to say anything new about it in my over-generalizing way (because there’s no reason to get too “techy” about it. If you’d like a true review of the LA Opera’s production, this would be a good place: http://likelyimpossibilities.blogspot.com). Götterdammerung was powerful, beautiful, and everything I expected it would be. As the apocalypse loomed, the production got even more Brechtian with the stage literally falling apart. I don’t want to give too much away about the ending, but it was awesome (in the traditional sense that little outside of post-post-modern Wagnerian operas can deliver). I feel like that’s all that I can really say about it, only that if you can, you really must go see it for yourself.

Now, a little more generic about my experience at the LA Opera and with the Ring Cycle. It was amazing, inspiring, and life-changing. Seriously. For as long as I’ve been listening to opera (I can’t even remember when I first heard Vesti la Giubba being sung by Herr Pavarotti, but I know I was in elementary school) Wagner’s Ring Cycle has been the pinnacle of what I consider majesty and beauty in music. I even plan on having a quote from Wagner: “Imagination Creates Reality” inscribed on my tombstone right above my own words: “What he said”. I’ve purposefully stayed away from all video of the Ring Cycle, because I’ve never wanted to taint the image until I could see it, and see it all, live and from the same company. To find that in LA, and to see what I consider one of the greatest artistic interpretations (from what I’ve seen in pictures and video since I have now allowed myself to look around) was revolutionary to me. AND, to see who I consider to be the world’s best Wotan, Vitalij Kowaljow, brought me to tears several times and I’m never ashamed to admit when art makes me emotional, because that’s what it’s for. Finally, to top it all off, because of Twitter, Jean Oelrich (I hope I got that right, sorry Jean!) from LA Opera contacted a bunch of the people that were tweeting about LA Opera’s Ring Cycle and got us together during the breaks of Götterdammerung, which brought the finale of my experience to an amazing end! Truly, truly, one of the greatest experiences of my life. Not only did I get to interact with fellow opera and Wagner lovers, which are rare in Austin, Texas and in the college crowd, but I got to meet the conductor, Maestro James Conlon, and director, Achim Freyer, who brought this dream to life. And all because of Twitter and Jean Oelrich. Joy can be so astounding sometimes.

The LA Opera “Twitterati”: L-R Jonathan Caves (@joncaves), Me (@EccentricGent), Katherine Talley (@KatherineTalley), Maestro Conlon, Philip Horvath (@philiphorvath), Charlise Tiee (@operatattler)

Myself and director Achim Freyer

So, now that The Ring is over… I’ve had to try and return to my normal life. However, this week, the LA Improv Festival has been happening down at iO LA, so I took two days off of work (thanks boss!) and went to a few workshops that were also very revolutionary. I’m still unsure as to where I’m heading, but now I have two very distinct tracts of either being a straight-out writer (performance secondary) or a performer (writing secondary) and that makes me feel a lot better. The workshops were great in both fields and I feel much more confident about my future either way. Amazing how Los Angeles has really been changing my life in huge strides and in only 4 weeks… Oh! And I meet Eric Stonestreet (Cameron from Modern Family) and Danny Pudi (Abed from Community). They taught two workshops I went to on Wednesday and they were great. Amanda Philipson also taught a voice over workshop on Thursday which made me really want to get into voice over work (apparently I have a very sincere voice that relates that I care, and I also have the same vocal range as the voice of Bravo TV. Interesting).

At the end of the week, it’s hard to imagine where I’m going from here, but at least I know that I’m ready for it. I also need to work on not using the word “amazing” so often. If someone would like to count how many times it’s used in this post, please let me know. Hope you all are enjoying yourselves as much as I have been (enjoying myself… not you. Not that I don’t enjoy you, it just sounds a little naughty).

le grá,

Cody