Austin Lyric Opera
A "Magic Flute" that plays up love and laughs
November 8, 2011AUSTIN -- Mozart’s valedictory work of musical theater, “The Magic Flute,” takes on a distinctly and winningly American flavor in an Austin Lyric Opera production that opened Nov. 5 in the Long Center.
Other stagings we have seen have emphasized the fairy-tale aspects of the story (as in Maurice Sendak’s justly beloved design for Houston Grand Opera’s 1981 production) or the spiritual and ritual aspects (as in Amado Peña’s American Indian design for the San Antonio Festival in 1991).
The Austin
production, by contrast, employs an abstract set (designed
by Noele Stollmack for Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera) that allows varied
playing spaces without weighing down the story with visual references.
Christianne Myers's costumes, also for Florentine Opera, were models of
design discipline,
portraying the essence of each character in a few
carefully considered strokes. Thus, the focus narrowed to the love story involving the prince Tamino and the princess Pamina, daughter of the evil Queen of the Night; and on the cheerfully low-brow comedy involving Tamino’s sidekick, the voluble bird-catcher Papageno. That staging strategy required highly accomplished acting and stage direction, both of which were amply present in this production.
Top marks go to the Papageno of David Adam Moore, the most delightful exemplar of that role I have encountered. His uncommonly beautiful, lively and refined baritone instrument was mated to first-rate instincts for comedic movement and timing in a distinctly American style. If Jim Carrey could sing like Hermann Prey, the result would be very much like Mr. Moore.
Soprano Hanan Alattar was a warm and comely Pamina. The sense of desolation was palpable in Ms. Alattar’s account of the great aria “Ach, ich fühls,” in which she fears that Tamino no longer loves her, and she summoned dramatic thrust to heighten the intensity of her threatened suicide two scenes later.
The role of Tamino, usually assigned to a leggiero or light-lyric tenor, gained near-Heldentenor cojones from Arthur Espiritu’s power and steely edge. Yes, with the right tenor you really can hear Wagner’s roots in “The Magic Flute.”
Soprano Juliet Petrus handled the Queen of the Night’s daunting Act II aria, including the four high Fs, with impressive accuracy, but her voice sounded a bit too thin on opening night to command the stage as the role requires.
One Queen of the Night who commanded many stages in her heyday was Sally Wolf, who took the role in ALO’s inaugural production in 1987 and returned for a very welcome cameo appearance as the First Lady in the current production. Other notable performances came from the enormous bass voice of James Moellenhoff as Sarastro and soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine as a saucy Papagena.
Stage director James Marvel tailored the style of the action to the mood of each scene. His approach to comedic scenes was sometimes over-the-top silly -- there was a brief revival of the macarena dance -- but not inconsistent with the very earthy sense of humor that Mozart sometimes revealed in his letters.
Contributing greatly to the production’s effectiveness was Susan Threadgill’s translation of the spoken dialogue from the original German to a spirited, contemporary and very American-sounding English.
ALO principal conductor and artistic director Richard Buckley led the forces with his customary attention to dramatic and musical shape.
“The Magic Flute” continues Nov. 11 at 7:30 and Nov. 13 at 3 in the Long Center. See austinlyricopera.org
Mike Greenberg
David Adam Moore as Papageno and Jamie-Rose Guarrine as Papagena; below, Juliet Petrus as Queen of the Night.
Mark Matson for Austin Lyric Opera.