The tail end of the 2007/2008 San Francisco Opera season is now underway with a new production of Das Rheingold, in an udated version no less, moving from Germany to the USA in the Gold Rush area. Yuck! Why do producers have to rape operas this way. Wagner wrote this and the other Ring operas based on Nordic and German mythology which has nothing to do with the gold miners of the 49er era, etc, etc. New sets and costumes are one thing but moving something to a time and place that the composers could not have imagined or at least not intended is an insult to the composer and to opera lovers everywhere. Shame...shame...shame on San Francisco Opera and Washington Opera for doing this.

Note: I have heard from one source anyway that it is not as bad as it looks. Hmm...I wonder what that means. Well, I still hold to the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and this sure as heck applies to any of Wagner's operas. Oh well, we will see on Saturday night.