Theatre Notes We’ve been planning this for a year. In 2014, for Wagner’s 150th anniversary year, Opera Australia put on a new production of the full Ring cycle. B’s son, J was in it, having been hired for his expertise in adagio, even getting to be on stage for Siegfried’s death scene (so that the lead wouldn’t get hurt while dying). B didn’t get to see more of the show than a dress rehearsal of one of the four, so when I heard they were putting on a revival this year, and having a bit of cash from being made redundant at my last job, I got us tickets to the whole thing. I figure, B’s a classical music fan, I enjoy mythology and theatrical spectacle, what could go wrong? B came down with appendicitis, that’s what could go wrong, so we can’t go. She’s fine, now, or will be soon, but not soon enough to make the trip and sit through 20 hours of opera, fan or not. Meanwhile, Opera Australia very kindly offered no option for off-loading the tickets (no waiting list, no resale capacity), other than a store credit for upcoming productions – good for one year, but including purchases in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons – with the suggestion that maybe we’d like to see “My Fair Lady”. AU$2800 worth of opera tickets to a spectacular classic like the Ring, and they offer “My Fair Lady”? High school amateurs and community theatre troupes put on “My Fair Lady”. The movie plays on television fifteen times a year, and that’s the best they’ve got for two years? #OperaAustraliaFail.

Time for Change Time magazine has continued it’s “person of the year tradition”, a practice that may need review, given the selection this year - yes, an obvious choice, as was their selection in 1938.