[jallanite]

I didn’t see the Toronto Lord of the Rings musical either.

Problems with new mechanical scenery devices are normal enough. In computerese it is usual to interpret leading edge as bleeding edge. If you are trying something entirely new, it should be expected that it will not work altogether properly. The genuine bugs in “the machine” had been worked out by the time the films had been made.

Beyond that, opera itself depends a lot on willing suspension of disbelief in any case.

I really don’t see many parallels between Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the Lord of the Rings beyond the totally obvious. Both have a supreme Ring of Power. Sméagol’s killing of Déagol parallels Fafner’s killing of Fasolt. The are more parallels between the Siegfried story and Tolkien’s story of Turin.

Wagner and Tolkien have almost no philosophical base in common and Wagner changed some of his ideas during his writing of the Ring Cycle which partly leads to the contradictions within his work. Partly the problem is that Wagner is adapting stories where the originals have nothing to do with a Ring of Power. Tolkien’s work is far more coherent. Wagner’s popularity has more to do with his amazing music, individual pieces of drama, and the panache with which he carries off the impossible.

The Ride of the Valkyries, in particular, succeeds on its own terms, unconnected with Wagner’s basic plot.

For years I have heard various people announce that they planned to write an essay comparing Wagner and Tolkien but none of these planned efforts have appeared. I suspect that this is because when these persons began to seriously think about it there is so little that is similar beyond the grossly obvious.

Wotan/Óðinn is of course obviously similar to Gandalf in some ways. But so are Merlin, Maugis of Aigremont, Väinäimöinen, Teiresias, Elijah, Elisha, Vashistha, Visvamitra, and some other traditional figures.