Wagner's Dream

When Richard Wagner died in 1883, he had only seen one interpretation of his own opera epos Der Ring des Nibelungen, and he wasn't happy with what he saw. It had to be bigger, more spectacular, but the limitations of 19th-century techniques left him disappointed. Wagner's Dream follows Canadian director Robert Lepage as he attempts to do justice to Wagner's mythic and comic story of the gods by coming up with a unique design for the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Inspired by Wagner's original sources in Norse mythology and the landscape of Iceland, he creates a system of 24 aluminum shape-shifting planks as the main decor for all four parts of the Ring (Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung). This documentary takes the viewer along for the ride, from the preparations to the performances between 2007 and 2012. On the basis of personal commentary from various crew members, we get insight into their commitment to ensure that this amazing beast of a stage does service to Wagner's epos. Lepage affectionately calls it "the wild beast that needs to be tamed," if it is to carry the weight of the opera singers. In addition to the director himself, we also get to meet Wagner fans, ushers, opera singers and the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)