"It is a minor shame that the tremendous San Francisco staging of Richard Wagner's Parsifal, currently running at the War Memorial Opera House, had but one Sunday matinee performance. I can't answer the long-running question about Parsifal being a Christian opera or not, but seeing it this past Sunday returned me to those long hours of my religious upbringing, spent in pews and listening to sermons on compassion, suffering and redemption."
"At church, as a child, I couldn't have been more bored. At the opera house, watching this marvelous production unfold over the course of six hours, I couldn't have been more transfixed. Whether you're a diehard Wagnerite or a casual operagoer, this production of Parsifal is something special; an experience that'll stop you dead in your tracks. The storyline is simple enough."
"Parsifal, a wide-eyed fool (played expertly by Brandon Jovanovich), encounters the knights of the Holy Grail and finds King Amfortas (a perfectly anguished Brian Mulligan) suffering. Amfortas' wound has refused to heal after the outlaw Klingsor (a booming Falk Struckmann) stabbed him with the Holy Spear, which he stole when the temptress Kundry (a beguiling Tanja Ariane Baumgartner) seduced Amfortas."
The San Francisco staging of Richard Wagner's Parsifal runs at the War Memorial Opera House as a six-hour production with only one Sunday matinee. The production evokes themes of compassion, suffering and redemption and transforms solemn religious tones into gripping theatrical experience. Brandon Jovanovich portrays Parsifal as a wide-eyed fool who encounters the knights of the Holy Grail and finds King Amfortas, wounded by Klingsor's stolen Holy Spear after Kundry's seduction. Act II features creative fog effects and nearly three dozen flowermaidens vying for Parsifal's affections. Kwangchul Youn returns as Gurnemanz in Act III, setting off a riveting finale in the sanctuary of the Holy Grail.
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