"Ring"-mania spreads beyond Seattle Opera

"Ringheads" have plenty of reasons to rejoice.

No fewer than four major productions of Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" are popping up from coast to coast between now and 2013, the bicentennial of the great German composer's birth, drawing acolytes from across the globe to worship at the various shrines where this monumental four-opera saga is being presented.

The Seattle Opera's summer revival of its "Ring" production ended Sunday. Within the next four years, Wagner's massive 16-hour epic will have new productions by the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera, with Washington and San Francisco sharing theirs.

Thousands of Wagnerians, or "Ringheads," representing 49 states and 24 foreign countries virtually sold out the three cycles the Seattle Opera mounted in August at McCaw Hall under the direction of Stephen Wadsworth.

Even with seats priced as high as $308, the $8.5 million extravaganza was expected to break even; what's more, it's expected to generate almost $9.5 million in economic benefits for Seattle, 45 percent of that from Wagner buffs coming from outside the Seattle area.

The most monumental fairy tale composed continues to enthrall operagoers, challenge musicians and absorb scholars, 123 years after it was first staged as an integral work in Bayreuth (the Bavarian hamlet whose theater has become synonymous with Wagner's works), even as it strains the resources of every company that produces it.

Undaunted, Seattle Opera has notably built its international reputation on its "Ring" cycles, having mounted the tetralogy 38 times since its first cycle in 1975. The Wadsworth staging is to be given a final time in 2013 as a kind of swan song for Speight Jenkins, the company's general director who has produced all 10 of Wagner's mature operas since taking over as general director in 1983, and who plans to retire in the company's 50th anniversary year in 2014.