Is Bayreuth In A Rut?

The Bayreuth Festival is still the toughest ticket in Europe during the summer, and the Wagner family have kept the music coming even through their endless (and often embarrassingly public) spats. But critics have not been terribly kind to Bayreuth’s new Ring cycle, and some are suggesting that the “stultifying weight of this dreary new [production]” is merely a symptom of a larger malaise afflicting the festival.