Setting the stage

Detail, Construction for a Tragedy, Alexandra Exter

The Morgan Library and Museum has recently opened Creating the Modern Stage: Designs for theater and opera, an exhibit that "examines the origins of modern scenic design and chronicles the evolution of stage sets during the highly innovative period of ca. 1900 to 1970." I had hoped to highlight the work of Nikolai Pavolvich Akimov (especially his pen and ink satirical constructivist setting for Now for Hamlet) but I couldn't find a version of it online.

In other news, Anthony Tommasini writes in the NYTimes about various settings of Wagner's Ring cycle in advance of the Metropolitan Opera's new productions, which will be introduced with Das Rheingold in 2010. I was fortunate enought to catch the last cycle of Otto Schenk's production earlier this month. Unfortunately, I attended Die Walkure the night Domingo couldn't continue, though his replacement was in fine form.