Opera fans are known for their devotion, and it’s a good thing they are. What other art form regularly requires entire buildings to be erected, solely to stage the work of a single composer? Such is frequently the situation confounding anyone who wishes to put on a truly impressive production of Wagner’s infamous Ring cycle. In fact, the composer himself had to convince his benefactor, King Ludwig, to build the famous opera house in Bayreuth before he could stage the first Ring. As Toronto prepares a similar undertaking, William Littler paid a visit to Bayreuth to see how the monument to operatic self-indulgence has held up. Pretty well, as it turns out.