Despite the technical problems and the stinging barbs the production has received from many critics, Mr. Gelb sees the Lepage "Ring" as emblematic of his mission to bring the latest theatrical thinking and technology to the Met.
The next season, 2010-11, the Met will begin presenting a Wagner Ringg" cycle directed by Robert Lepage, a master of theatrical spectacle and technology who recently created the Cirque du Soleil extravaganza "KA" in Las Vegas.
When I spoke to Godard in 2000, he offered a sharp and theatrical repudiation of digital technology.
The show, a two-hour spectacle designed to wed the latest media technology with theatrical narrative, unfolds on a giant scaffold structure in the middle of the auditorium with walkways that move horizontally and vertically.
Due to incredible advances in computer technology, the theatrical elements of opera have undergone a revolution in design and production techniques.
From Alice encountering her environment and blowing up to unimaginable proportions to the Queen of Hearts and her virtual posse of playing cards, this media performance highlights the limitless potential that can occur when technology and theatrical performance share the same stage.
The job of figuring that out fell to Scenic Technologies, a theatrical construction firm in New Windsor, N.Y., that makes sets for Broadway productions.
"The board just wants to make it crystal clear so that in the rush to embrace new technologies, a legitimate theatrical motion picture doesn't inadvertently jeopardize its eligibility," said Bruce Davis, the academy's executive director.
He's fascinated by everything from the minutiae of technology to the latest theatrical production to the meaning of the universe.
Four years later, the Edison operation came out with its last substantial new film exhibition technology, a short-lived theatrical system called the Super Kinetoscope.
