During its second complete summer, the Rochaix/Israel Ring started to gain traction. As Speight Jenkins puts it, “The Shiite Wagnerians’ anger did not discourage sales...more tickets were sold than in 1986, and we had a lot of press--all the major newspapers and several national magazines.” Leonie Rysanek, the greatest Sieglinde of the era and a personal friend of Jenkins’, came to Seattle for the cycles; her disagreeable husband Hunding was played by the Romanian bass Gabor Andrasy in his US debut. Andrasy would contribute much to Seattle Opera Wagner productions for many years. The production also featured the Siegfried of Toni Krämer. 'Crab-legs' Fafner from the previous summer was replaced by a reptilian brute with two heads that resembled Fafner and Fasolt from Das Rheingold.