Treleaven Photo by Monika Rittershaus

"Boos" were noticeably absent at the end of the LA Opera's new production of SIEGFRIED. Of course, I missed the opening night when feelings are often intensified to a fever pitch--especially among the more conservative Wagnerians. But there were also fewer walkouts than I'd noticed in the previous Ring operas. Were Angelenos warming to Achim Freyer's magical mystery interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle?

SIEGFRIED is probably the most difficult opera in Wagner's tricky tetralogy to fully realize. It's imposingly long, with long stretches of relative inaction, and it saves its true human emotions for the final thirty minutes of the opera. Wagner's hero is a godlike manchild gifted with superhuman strength, who is also a thoughtless, impulsive bully. A difficult character to warm up to. And yet, Freyer's symbol-laden dreamscape of a design seems to reveal the quintessential spirit of SIEGFRIED with more consistent success than in the two previous outings.

This is not to say that Freyer has altered his vision or softened his stylistic elements. The action is still overseen by Wotan's roving eye, the performers continue to address the audience far more than each other, most of the action takes place behind a scrim which is used to project images throughout, the turntable playing space is still raked at a dangerous angle, many of the main characters have onstage doubles, and Siegfried's all-important sword is portrayed by a light tube.

With SIEGFRIED, Freyer has found his central metaphor in competition—namely a racetrack. The characters begin their scenes crouched on numbered starting blocks and play their action within the visible lines of their individual lanes (although it does appear to be the most leisurely paced race in history). Freyer hints at the realistic world by using an army of extras in body suits to slowly cross his surreal terrain with cartoonish representations of the props one would see in a traditional production. Siegfried himself wears animal-skin trousers and sports day-glo yellow hair and a bare, blue, comic book-style muscled chest.

Wagner was cruel to the character of Siegfried, creating a vocally punishing and physically demanding role. Freyer's set adds more abuse to John Treleaven's portrayal when, at the performance I attended, he tripped on a portion of the cloth-covered deck and quite obviously hurt his ankle. He played through the final half hour like a true hero but was in such pain by the curtain call that he declined to walk center stage for his bow. Vocally, Treleaven is not the golden-voiced heldentenor epitomized by Lauritz Melchior, but his lean and sinewy sound is clear, accurate, and tireless. He throws himself into Freyer's concept completely and is responsible for much of the success of this production.

Graham Clark's droll Mime more than fulfills the promise he displayed in his brief RHEINGOLD appearance, while Oleg Bryjak snarled authoritatively as Alberich. Both of them sing with admirable clarity through the masks they wear. Linda Watson makes rapturous music as Brunhilde awakens to life and love, despite obvious costume problems. Stacey Tappan brings a glorious celestial shimmer to the Woodbird. Vitalij Kowaljow's Wotan and Jill Grove's Erda are enormously affecting in their scene.

Complaints that the covered pit (an attempt to recreate Bayreuth's sound) muffled the orchestral sound in the previous operas which led to an adaptation of the cover which seems to have solved the sonic problems. This allows Music Director James Conlon his full range of dynamics, and he takes advantage of this by leading an epically conceived, yet intricately detailed performance.

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion September 26 – October 17, 2009 213 972-8001 www.laopera.com