Twilight:Gods in Chicago: Wagner's Götterdämmerung in a parking, following the action from your car.

In 2020, the Lyric Opera of Chicago had scheduled to stage Wagner's Götterdämmerung, and then to perform the whole cycle. Sadly for them, the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak ruined that plan. Not giving up, the opera house still maintained the hope to offer at least a portion of the work, and that is how Twilight:Gods, a drive-through opera show in a parking garage, was born. 

Yuval Sharon, the Michigan Opera Theatre director and creator of this show.

The creator of this show is the American director Yuval Sharon, who staged Lohengrin in 2018 at the Bayreuth Festival, the first U.S. director to work at the green hill. Sharon is the new artistic director of the Michigan Opera Theatre, and as a result this show emerged as a collaboration of Chicago and Michigan Opera houses. Sharon has taken the wagnerian epic to the vast space of a parking garage, in an underground stage, making the audience part of the story. An interesting production, which must have been amazing while in one's car, driving and enjoying the music, but limited in an online streaming. In addition, this show is sung in English, after a new version by Sharon himself.  The orchestra has been reduced to a small ensemble, with musicians from the Lyric Opera, conducted by Edward Windels, including saxophon and electric bass. The cellist Mark Brandfonbrener, played with a warm, brilliant sound from his instrument in Waltraute's scene. The show had its premiere in Detroit in October 2020 and then in Chicago in May 2021.The later performance was filmed for a free online stream by Raphael Nash. 

The Chicago show was held at the Lakeside garage at the Millenium Park. The audience, in their cars, have to drive with their windows closed, and tuning the radio in different stations to listen to the music. Once the scene is finished, they have to drive until the next level and tune the next radio station. The guiding thread is narrated by the norns, the three of them performed by the writer and activist avery r. young. The first scene is Waltraute's monologue, describing the despair of a ill and mentally ruined Wotan, who appears in his throne. The mezzosoprano Catherine Martin plays the valkyrie, and Henson Keys a silent Wotan. Martin's rendition was devoted, with a round high tone, but also somehow strident. 

The next scene is between Alberich and Hagen, both sit in armchairs, an apparition of the wicked dwarf to his equally wicked son. Alberich is played by the veteran Donnie Ray Albert, who despite having an aged voice, he still preserves a nice low voice and good diction, conveying the role's evil. Hagen is sung by Morris Robinson, a dark bass with a powerful voice, a deep low register who makes the audience tremble, such a great rendition. The next scene is the Rhinemaidens'one, sung by three competent soloists, who advise Siegfried about his future. The hero is performed by Sean Panikkar, an American tenor of Sri Lankan ancestry. Panikkar is a lyric tenor, and has sung successfully roles for that tessitura, starting with a brilliant, youthful singing tone, but the heroic parts of the role seem difficult to him. However, the voice still sounds beautiful. After Siegfried's death, the Funeral March begins, with the cars participating in it, going through a level lighted with candles, and also dancing lights. The problem is that the solemn Funeral March is replaced by a beat version of it, turning the uplifting music into a pretty disco dance music from the 70s, maybe fitting into Sharon's show but not in the drama, distracting it from the tension after Siegfried's death. The final scene is Brünnhilde's inmolation, now with the famous soprano Christine Goerke in the role. Goerke is one of the major performes of the role, giving a splendid rendition, with a great singing, powerful, well projected high notes, a voice with a big volume. A fine peformance both vocally and acting. At the end, after seeing cars about to burn (lightened in orange, of course), at singing "Grane, mein ross", a red vintage car appears to take Brünnhilde out. The climatic finale, with the destruction of the Gods and the new order is not solved on stage, maybe due to the limitations of the venue, and only at the end of the film we see at the wall the following sentence graffited: "The Gods' destruction brings a New day", seeing the cars leaving while the Norns's voice (avery's one) narrates the ending, while the glorious final chords are being played.

The production had a big critical and audience success, with all tickets sold out in both cities. Waiting for the return of opera seasons in America, Chicago and Detroit have achieved a big success with this production. Twilight:Gods takes the magic of Wagner's mammoth opera to the audience in a country that, stricken by the pandemic and the consequent political and social turmoil, really needs it.

In this link, you can apply for watching the free stream online from the Chicago Opera website.

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