Uh-Oh

The plot of the soap opera that is the Wagner family and the succession of the directorship of the Bayreuther Festspiele takes another jarring — and completely unexpected — turn:

Gudrun Wagner, wife of Bayreuth Opera Festival director Wolfgang Wagner and a key partner in helping him stage the annual event, died Wednesday, officials said. She was 63.

She died Wednesday morning at a Bayreuth hospital. No cause of death was immediately given, said Peter Emmerich, a spokesman for the festival.

"It is with deep emotion and with silent grief that I must convey that this morning my loving wife and close co-worker Gudrun Wagner died fully unexpectedly," Wolfgang Wagner said in a statement.

We suspect this event will force the board of the Festspiele to quickly make some tough decisions it was hoping it might be able to put off till a more opportune time presented itself.

RTWT here.