Creative Puppetry Brings Magic to Atlanta Opera

The Atlanta Opera’s monumental production of Richard Wagner’s, “Siegfried,” the third in a series of annual productions of the German composer’s “Ring Cycle” is a towering artistic work that derives much of its power from a climactic scene where the fearless hero for whom the opera is named plunges his sword into the monstrous dragon, Fafnir, and kills him.

For Tomer Zvulun, the Israeli-born artistic director of the opera company, who also serves as its executive director, this extraordinary scene brings into focus the magical world of adventure that Wagner created.

“It’s a world full of gods and monsters, dragons and dungeons and the quest for treasure and one ring that will rule them all. The world of fantasy that Wagner creates serves a critical role in the four lengthy operas that Wagner has written, provides the canvas on which the intimate stories of the lead characters are told.”

For this important confrontation that drives the story to its tragic conclusion, Zvulun and his scenic designer, Erhard Rom, wanted a monster to confront Siegfried that was equal to the themes of sacrifice and renewal that the production of Siegfried explores, the price that a hero must pay in this epic pursuit of power.

For over a year before the opera’s opening night on the Cobb Energy Centre’s stage, Zvulun and Rom worked with Jason Hines, creative director of Atlanta’s famed Center for Puppetry Arts, to create a monster that would be able to interact with the hero, move and to fight him. What he came up with was a creature that probably has few equal on Atlanta’s dramatic stages.

“What we ended up with was a monster 12 feet tall,” Hines said, “that needed six puppeteers to maneuver it around the stage. Two moved the body, another moved the head, a fourth moved the tail and two outside did the arms.”

But that was not the only challenge — the Atlanta Opera’s dragon needed to be less the conventional Godzilla-like creature of Hollywood blockbusters and more like something from another planet, unlike anything that might arise from the natural world.

“The lead singer who sings Siegfried interacts with the puppeteers who operate a multi-faceted dragon that has multiple eyes and heads,” Zvulun says. “Not unlike the Hydra, every time the hero chops a head or pokes an eye, there are two other eyes that appear. It’s an exciting sequence which is considered to be the narrative highlight in ‘Siegfried.‘”

The great monster in “Siegfried” is just one of the many times the Atlanta Opera has called upon the puppet makers at the Center for Puppetry Arts to enhance their productions.

One of the first productions Zvulun created for the company 15 years ago was a production of Mozart’s popular opera, “The Magic Flute,” which used puppets to put some extra magic into the enchanting fairy tale of heroes and heroines. It was edited into a family version, 45 minutes long, that premiered at the Puppetry Arts theater seven years ago. This year, the production was revived in a sold-out staging early in April.

Whether it’s a 12-foot dragon battling a god-like hero or the story of a young hero singing his way through all the tests he faces, puppets, according to the master puppeteer Hines, bring a sense of wonder to a performance.

It steps up the level of fantasy,” Hines says. “I mean, you’re already being asked to believe that the singer is a mythical hero on a quest. But then if you put something next to him that is inherently not alive, and we all know that it’s not alive, we’re being asked to go along for the ride. It makes the world of fantasy just a little bit deeper.”

The Atlanta Opera wraps up its season of heroic journeys on June 7 with George Friedrich Handel’s Baroque opera, “Semele,” for four performances through June 15.

Advanced publicity describes it as a timeless story of desire, deception, and the dangers of becoming overly confident, which often takes its toll on those who aspire to achieve divinity.

“’Semele’ is an opera of enormous beauty and psychological depth,” said Zvulun. “This production closes a season that has been shaped by the theme of the ‘hero’s journey.’ We have assembled a world-class cast to bring this rarely produced gem to life. The creative team of this production has created a world of breathtaking beauty, and I look forward to sharing it with our audience in Atlanta.”

Active military and veterans are welcome, free of charge at all performances, with the support of The Home Depot Foundation.