BobAtTheRing

Runners have their NY and Boston Marathons, swimmers have the English Channel, cyclists the Tour de FRance, and auto enthusiasts the Indy 500.  We opera fans have the Ring des Nibelungen, and I am attending my first Ring cycle starting tonight at the Met.  All four operas in the cycle, from Das Rheingold through Gotterdamerung, played in sequence over the next six nights.  We get a break on Wednesday and Friday nights, but you'll know where to find me until Sunday.

I've been in training.  "No water" afternoons, squats and deep knee bends at the gym, and "Silent Nights" of no speaking for six consecutive hours.  Yep, I think I'm ready.

I am familiar with each of the operas, of course, but have never seen them all in a single week, which makes this an operagoer's marathon I have been looking forward to for a long time.  Not an inexpensive hobby, this.  But it's the last year at the Met for the Otto Schenck production, and I thought (during pre-recession days a year ago when I had to commit to the tix) it was a price worth paying.

Couldn't find another obsessed companion for the entire journey, so three close friends will be sharing pieces of the Ring with me this year.  

Will be posting through the various evenings and hope I can amuse and entertain as the week goes along.