Wagner´s Ring part1

Anna Russell - The (First) Farewell Concert (1984) To end a long, hilarious career, classical music comedienne Anna Russell revived some of her best and funniest routines and took them on the road. This special PBS production, taped in Baltimore at the beginning of that 1984 tour, is a treasure for music lovers who understand that the thing they love can be charmingly goofy. The highlight of the disc, and the routine that most fans remember most fondly, is her discussion of the Ring cycle. She tells the convoluted story of Wagner's four-installment epic, with careful attention to its absurdities, and she sings all the roles in a voice ranging shakily but with determination through soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. She does the same in her parody of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, and the advantage of a video recording becomes obvious when she changes funny hats while singing to show whether she is acting the heroine, villain, or chorus.

• Category

  Comedy

[CONTESTAR]

I would be disappointed too if I went to an appearance of hers and didn't get "her Wagner"!!

What an ingenious presentation. I think this should be shown to schools BUT NOT for pupils; instead it should be shown to all Teachers -of every faculty- in order for them to see and learn HOW IT'S DONE!!!

[Flora Kirou]

OOMG!! Hilarious!! Love her lol

[NOSEhow2LIV]

Very good to see this here. I never managed to catch her in a live performance. This more than makes up for it!

[James McInnis]

I doesn't know!

[zzzut]

Can you imagine Anna Russell and Victor Borge as a team? That would have been something!

[MaskedMan66]

Truth!



[LeGrande]

"Epic" is far too trivial to describe what we would have experienced.

[RVP57]

A masterpiece from an great artist...oh, the Ring is too.

[OLIVCHEN77]

Defenitely the very best of all opera-parodies.....so funny...so true...and SAUKOMISCH!!!

[lewars1912]

I love Wagner's Ring and I also love this woman sending it up, lol. She's marvelous.

[Ludwig Van Beethoven]

Brilliant!!! why isn't there more people like her???

[tlsorrel]

It's the only waay!