In Wednesday’s (2/16) New York Times, Daniel J. Wakin and Steve Lohr report, “Purveyors of entertainment, in the ever-urgent quest to grab audiences’ attention, have used 3-D imagery in movies and, more recently, television. Now it is coming to live theater. In a rare case (at least in modern times) of technical innovation born on the opera stage, the Metropolitan Opera said it planned to introduce 3-D projections for its production of ‘Siegfried’ next season, the third installment in its new ‘Ring’ cycle, directed by Robert Lepage. If the technology works as advertised, the singers will appear to move inside a three-dimensional world created by projections. But tuxedo-clad operagoers will not face the indignity of wearing goofy 3-D glasses. The creators say that the complex mathematical formulas used to create the three-dimensional effect will obviate the need for glasses. … Its use at the Met, so far, will be limited to forest scenes in ‘Siegfried.’ It will not be employed in the final work of Wagner’s cycle, ‘Götterdämmerung.’ … For its visual sleight of hand, the 3-D technology being deployed at the Met will also interact with the movement of the set. The set uses a bank of projectors, motion-capture cameras and computers to fashion the images.”
Posted February 16, 2011
