By MIKE SILVERMAN
Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) -- Painstakingly forged over three years, the Royal Opera's new production of Richard Wagner's epic "Ring" cycle seemed in danger of shattering like Siegmund's sword when its star, Bryn Terfel, pulled out at the last minute.

But in a reversal of Wagner's plot that depicts an aging god giving way to a young superhero, the project was saved by a veteran singer old enough to be Terfel's father, Sir John Tomlinson.

Originally scheduled to sing the crucial role of Wotan in just one of three complete performances of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" staged at Covent Garden last month, Tomlinson agreed to do the entire run.

That provided the linchpin without which the costly and ambitious undertaking likely would have foundered. Though the other leading roles were cast with care, few of the singers proved entirely satisfactory. And the production was a frustrating hodgepodge of concepts, some fascinating, some merely bizarre.

Tomlinson, a tall, imposing figure, with a wild mane of hair and graying beard, imbued Wotan with a sense of world-weariness, making him seem in decline even before he dooms his fellow gods by greedily pursuing a magical golden ring. His sonorous bass voice boomed with impressive power in the lower register. Passages that call for the higher notes of a baritone's range give him difficulty now, at age 61, but even their frailty added to the poignancy of his characterization.

Terfel, who turns 42 later this month, was to be the centerpiece of this production, and had sung Wotan to great acclaim in the first two installments in 2004-05. But the Welsh bass-baritone withdrew during rehearsals, saying he needed to tend to an injured child and had been too distracted to properly study the complete role.

So Tomlinson emerged as a heroic savior, as evidenced by the audience reaction at the conclusion of the final "Goetterdaemmerung" last Friday night. This is the one opera in which Wotan does not appear, yet when Tomlinson, dressed in evening clothes, joined his fellow cast members for a curtain call, the applause was thunderous.

He shares the laurels with conductor Antonio Pappano, who drew magnificent playing from the Royal Opera orchestra. The horn section, whose stamina is always tested in Wagner's operas, performed so consistently well that a momentary bobble at the beginning of Act 3 of "Goetterdaemmerung" drew gasps from the audience. Far more typical was the majestic ebullience of the Rhine Journey interlude or the visceral sense of dismay during the Funeral March.

Among the other singers, soprano Lisa Gasteen lacked only a reliable high C to make her a thoroughly admirable Bruennhilde. She displayed a lively, sympathetic presence on stage and possesses an appealing voice that sounded well-focused as she climbed most of the way up the scale. Paradoxically, the Siegfried, tenor John Treleaven, produced ringing high notes but often sounded stressed in the middle range. He was especially good at conveying the callow innocence of Wagner's boy hero.

The apparently ageless Placido Domingo reprised his familiar Siegmund, running out of steam a bit at the end of Act 1 but otherwise singing with ardent enthusiasm and the breath control of a tenor half his 66 years.

Partnering him, soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek was a radiant Sieglinde. In smaller but crucial roles, mezzo Rosalind Plowright endowed Fricka, Wotan's nagging wife, with dignity if not ideal vocal steadiness; mezzos Catherine Wyn-Rogers and Mihoko Fujimura were splendid as Erda and Waltraute, respectively; tenor Gerhard Siegel gave a minutely detailed and scrupulously sung performance as Mime, and baritone Peter Sidhom was a force as Alberich, the dwarf who steals the Rhinemaidens' gold and then plants a curse on it after Wotan snatches it away. As Alberich's vengeance-minded son Hagen, bass Kurt Rydl overdid the swagger but sounded properly menacing.

Would that the production itself, directed by Keith Warner with sets by Stefanos Lazaridis and costumes by Marie-Jeanne Lecca, had always lived up to the musical standards. The team had many interesting ideas and created some stunning tableaus, but there seemed to be no thread to give the succession of scenes over four evenings a unified feel.

Science and the search for knowledge imbue many of the designs, starting with a curtain filled with cryptic mathematical equations that seem to have been scrawled frantically in chalk. In "Die Walkuere," Wotan has acquired a vast library, but the books are all tossed in a heap as if he has been looking for something in vain. During his final appearance near the end of "Siegfried," Wotan in a rage throws the remaining books off a revolving platform that serves as his shrinking world.

Adding to the scientific motif, a metal spiral that seems to represent the DNA helix appears in several scenes. It first shows up in Hunding's hut as the twisted trunk of a tree, from which Siegmund will pluck the sword Wotan has left for him. It reappears at the very conclusion of "Goetterdaemmerung," when a female survivor of the burning and flooding of the world climbs atop one rim.

There are many bewildering touches: Why has a small airplane crashed through the roof of Mime's hut before the opening of "Siegfried"? Why does the Tarnhelm - the head covering that allows its wearer to change shape - resemble a hollowed-out Rubik's cube? Why does Wotan seem to impale the earth goddess Erda with his sword after he dismisses her for the last time?

But for every head-scratching moment, there's a striking scenic effect.

For the famous Ride of the Valkyries we usually get eight jovial warrior maidens cavorting about the stage. In Warner's production, these women are thoroughly deglamorized, smeared with blood and pressed against a huge white wall in a ghastly chorus line. It's a memorable image.

And in Act 2 of "Goetterdaemmerung" there's a breathtaking moment when the cowardly Gunther and a chorus of maidens dressed in white lead in a betrayed Bruennhilde as his captive bride. As she slumps in her seat in despair, a golden statue of Wotan - no longer able to intervene as a living creature - looms behind her.

Warner and his colleagues apparently took note of critical complaints when the individual operas were first produced and made substantial revisions in preparing the complete "Rings." It still appears a work in progress - one they could perhaps revisit during a future revival.

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