“State Opera South Australia’s $15.3 million production of Der Ring Des Nibelungen is Australia’s biggest and most ambitious theatrical undertaking, yet only 6000 people will get to see it. This production, Australia’s first, is a global diary note on the calendars of rich European and American Wagnerites wanting to see this watershed Australian foray into high German opera. Then, after 12 nights costing more than $1 million a night, it will be mothballed with no plans to perform it again. It is an exercise in excess.”