Despite Alex Ross' recent characterization of the Met's production of Götterdämmerung as "pound for pound, ton for ton, the most witless and wasteful production in modern operatic history," I can't help myself: I must see the Ring. Again. Sure, Jimmy's nowhere to be seen, and Robert LePage's production is troubled, to say the least. But, it's still the Met, and it's still Wagner. And, it's still a helluva lot easier to get to 63rd Street than Bayreuth. 

For those who aren't Ringworms like me: the Met typically stages three complete Ring cycles every four years, usually in the spring. (The last cycle took place in 2009.) One of those cycles typically happens over four consecutive Saturday matinees, which has always felt to me the way to go, especially when you're dealing with multiple operas that can last up to six hours each. 

So, imagine my confusion when I went to the Met's website to check out the schedule for this spring's cycles, and found this. Not only do the matinees start at 11:00 am (oof), they've broken them up so that they all appear in different cycles. Which wouldn't really matter - I usually buy day-of standing room tickets anyway - except that they've also messed with the order:

• Das Rheingold - Saturday, April 7, 2012, 9:00 pm (Not a matinee) 
• Siegfried - Saturday, April 21, 2012  - 11:00 AM 
• Die Walküre - Saturday, April 28, 2012 - 11:00 AM 
• Götterdämmerung - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 11:00 AM

Now, I realize I'm probably one of five people out there (including Alex), who cares about such things, but it totally screws with the story to see Die Walküre after Siegfried. I mean, would you want to see Empire Strikes Back after Return of the Jedi? I didn't think so.

Oh well, I guess I could just skip Walküre altogether. After all, I've already seen it.