No amount of superlatives can do justice to Chen Shi-Zheng‘s staging of Götterdämmerung, which was finally unveiled at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre last night.

The last opera in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, it is the apotheosis of a vision the director has shared and crafted with his exceptional creative team over more years than any of them probably care to remember.

The protracted gestation of this digital production, including its intricately detailed 3D-scanned set pieces, digital content by Leigh Sachwitz with flora&faunavisions and Anita Yavitch’s evocative costumes, has lasted an entire global pandemic and endured two postponements.

However, it was all worth it in the end. Like Rob Reiner’s 1987 film The Princess Bride, which has often been dubbed “the perfect film”, this production of the Ring Cycle delivers pure unadulterated joy to its wide-eyed audience, if not necessarily a happy ending.

Lise Lindstrom in Opera Australia’s Götterdämmerung in Brisbane. Photo © Opera Australia

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