The Real Rhinemaidens of Route 66

(NYTimes) ... In “Rheingold,” we find the god Wotan and his unruly clan in a tawdry, wasted state. The story is presented in and around a place called the Golden Motel, its name ablaze in bright lights, a tacky establishment on Route 66 in Texas. The imposing, colorful set (designed by Aleksandar Denic) rotates on a circular platform to reveal the motel’s dingy rear alley, a balcony from a second-floor room, and the gas pumps outside the front office. The three Rhinemaidens look like bored onetime vamps with long, curly locks wearing skimpy summer outfits. (The costumes are by Adriana Braga Peretzki.) We first see them reclining lazily in lounge chairs near a pathetic-looking aboveground pool. Alberich, Wagner’s Nibelungen dwarf, is here a sour old guy asleep in a lounger who emerges from under a pile of dirty bath towels. Continued