On the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht you were at Parsifal?It was a coincidence.
You know that Wagner was Hitler's favorite composer?I think the opera he really liked was Meistersinger. This one is a five-hour sit without (as Mark Twain noted) any good tunes for the vocalists.
What about all that mystical leader/pure brotherhood stuff?Wagner's inspiration was a medieval Grail poem, which he expanded in his own libretto. It's a mess, but this much comes across: (1) Women are dangerous; (2) If you just say "no" to sex with them, you could be king; (3) But not if you castrate yourself to avoid temptation.
Nap time?The first and third acts are a bit of a snore, though there's a lot of movie soundtrack potential in the orchestral music, handily played by the Lyric Opera Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis. Bass Kwangchul Youn, as an old knight, is stuck with relating a bunch of backstory but has a very nice voice. And there are a couple of arresting visuals: airborne, single-winged swans and a giant golden hand that looks like it's in the wrong opera.
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