Wagner's Dream

Wagner's Dream
Directed by	Susan Froemke
Produced by	Susan Froemke Douglas Graves
Starring	Robert Lepage Peter Gelb Deborah Voigt
Edited by	Bob Eisenhardt
Release date	2012
Running time	112 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Wagner's Dream is a documentary film directed by Susan Froemke. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 25, 2012 and was shown in high definition in theaters across the United States and Canada on May 7, 2012. The subject of the film is the staging of a new production of Richard Wagner's four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Metropolitan Opera beginning in 2010.

Froemke, who has previously filmed at the opera house, claims that she was given no limits by the opera company in filming the documentary. The documentary captures the challenges of creating the new production, including a complex 45 ton set designed by Robert Lepage. Even moving the huge set from Quebec, where it was constructed, to New York City was challenging, in part because the opera house was expecting the set to weigh only 25 tons. Among the mishaps covered in the documentary are the failure of the set to work properly at the premiere of the first Ring opera, Das Rheingold, and Deborah Voigt in the role of Brünnhilde falling and sliding down the set upon her entrance at the premiere of Die Walküre. The documentary covers other challenges faced, including the Metropolitan Opera's music director being forced to step down as conductor before the last two productions premiered and the need for tenor Jay Hunter Morris to step into the title role of Siegfried just three days before its premiere. The film records the fact that despite its technological advances, Lepage was ultimately disappointed that he could not get the set to "figuratively stand on its head" during the final opera, Götterdämmerung.

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