Chicago stages drive-through Wagner in underground garage

A bit of Richard Wagner's “Ring” cycle is being performed in an underground parking garage in Chicago

CHICAGO -- Amid signs pointing “To Elevator” and advising drivers to “Take Parking Ticket With You,” the Rhinemaidens lament the theft of their gold, Siegfried is murdered, and Brünnhilde drives off in a red Mustang convertible to redeem the world. Welcome to opera in an underground parking garage. A year after Lyric Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s complete “Ring” cycle was scuttled by the pandemic, the company has brought a bit of the epic back to life. But instead of walking into the opera house and taking their seats, spectators drive down into the garage and stay in their cars. “Twilight: Gods,” as the production is called, is the brainchild of Yuval Sharon, who premiered it last November in Detroit, where he had just been named artistic director of Michigan Opera Theater.