This is a bit of a departure from my usual Friday Fun, being largely spoken word.  Anna Russell, it seems, started her career as an opera singer, and then decided that while singing opera was pretty good fun, pointing up opera’s absurdities for comic effect was even more fun.  And she managed to base a career on this, which makes me deeply envious, because that sounds like the best job in the world.

Here she is, back in 1953, explaining Wagner’s Ring Cycle to the unsuspecting public.  The closest I’ve come to Wagner’s Ring cycle is the Cambridge Buskers playing the Ride of the Valkyries on sopranino recorder and piano accordion, and I find it hilarious.  I’m told that if you actually know the operas in question, it’s absolutely hysterical.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m69aPAo1rXE&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0] Continue reading →