Die Walkure

Ninety-five percent of the time, I despise "modern" interpretations of things. This is not one of the five percent. There is the odd thing that can have a modern interpretation that is reasonably appropriate, but this is not one of them. For the most part, "modern" interpretations tend to be hokey and contrived, when really the modernization is unnecessary.

Wagner's story of the ring is Fantasy. Making it "modern" is about the worst choice I can think of to do with such an opera. Personally, I think that if Die Walkure is to benefit from modern times, it should go the other way. Special effects, really cool makeup and prosthetics, modern theatrical and filmmaking techniques. Those are the things that it would benefit from. Some of the best and most fantastic fantasy stories are only now possible. I personally believe that magic fire would be really cool. Rather than candles on a table, and a guy who looks like George Lucas singing in a track suit, the characters and situations should be made awesome. The best kind of modernization is using modern technology to convey the old story the way it was meant, not altered to seem like it takes place in modern times. Die Walkure is an epic story. Making new interpretations now is a good idea, but it should be like an epic movie. That seems a lot more like what Wagner would have wanted to me. Flashy! Grand! Loud! Magic fire! A city built by giants! Vikings! A golden ring of power! Awesome soundtrack! It's huge! The reason why movies like Star Wars, and shows like Firefly are called "space operas." They are grand in every scale. I think that every thing in an opera is supposed to be taken to a grand scale. Die Walkure is a grand story, and making it "modern" is just a poor choice. (Though one set in the future would be just as cool as one set where it is intended.) The story is supposed to be grand, and making people connect with it by relating it to modern times does not make it grand. It is an epic story. The "modern" interpretation was not epic.