About the film
Sing Faster: The Stagehands’ Ring Cycle is a 1999 documentary directed by Jon H. Else. It follows stagehands at the San Francisco Opera as they work, rehearse, and spend leisure time while preparing Richard Wagner’s complete Der Ring des Nibelungen.
The cycle consists of four operas with a combined performance time of seventeen hours, making the production an exceptionally demanding undertaking for an opera company. The film focuses on stagecraft and the Ring cycle, showing the crew’s work behind the production. It runs for 56 minutes and was distributed by the American Public Broadcast Service through its Independent Lens series.
ITVS is listed as the production company. The documentary received a trophy, including the News and Documentary Emmy Awards and the Sundance Filmmaker Trophy Documentary.
Who it is for
This suits viewers interested in opera production, backstage labor, stagecraft, and Wagner’s Ring cycle. It is also useful for students studying how large performances are prepared.
Worth knowing
- Profiles San Francisco Opera stagehands
- Explores work and leisure behind production
- Covers Wagner’s complete Ring cycle
- Runtime is 56 minutes
- Distributed through Independent Lens
Before you press play
- Focuses on one opera company’s crew
- Centers on a seventeen-hour opera cycle
- Details are limited to the 1999 film
The short of it
Sing Faster brings attention to the people who make a major opera production possible. Its backstage focus and connection to Wagner’s four-opera cycle suit viewers curious about stagecraft and performance logistics.
What it is about
Awards on record
- trophy
- News and Documentary Emmy Awards
- Sundance Filmmaker Trophy Documentary