A familiar singer helps Seattle Opera round 'em up with The Ring.

Some people like to lie on a beach and work on their tan in the summertime. Others like to spend approximately 17 hours in a darkened theatre listening to Wagner.

A lot of them, it would seem, from the enthusiastic response to Seattle Opera's multimillion-dollar mounting of the German composer's full, four-part Ring Cycle this summer, on until August 25.

The Seattle Times' review from the opening performance of Das Rheingold reported the production drew "football-stadium cheers" from audience members from 50 states and 22 countries around the world. This in a program set amid Pacific Northwest forests, with a performance as Wotan from the formidable Greer Grimsley (a familiar presence on the Vancouver Opera stage, wowing audiences in works like Macbeth and Salome) that is reportedly his best yet.

Yes, folks, our neighbour to the south has established itself as one of the world's top places to bask in Wagnerian opera--and at no small effort by more than 100 performers, technicians, and others. That's okay: some predict the massive production will have a  total economic impact of $39 million on the city. (Tickets themselves are going for around $220 a pop.) Not bad for pieces by Wagner, who had debt problems his whole life.

Notably, though, 2013 may be the last time the Seattle Opera (celebrating its 50th anniversary this year) tackles the massive project, which has been mounted in 2001, 2005, and 2009, as company general director Speight Jenkins prepares to retire in 2014. 

As for the cycle, it continues, with The Valkyrie taking flight next in the Emerald City.