The Magic Flute
|
Photo by Robert Millard
|
By Michael Van Duzer
Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote) is seldom absent from any opera company’s repertoire for long. In spite of its numerous problems—a convoluted plot, an often uneasy mix of fairy tale, Masonic symbolism, and long spoken passages (it is a singspiel rather than a Grand Opera)— Mozart’s gloriously warm and imaginative score is irresistible.
To welcome 2009, LA Opera revived their Peter Hall Flute production along with its signature eye-popping sets and costumes by Gerald Scarfe. I was not a big fan of the production when it premiered in 1993, but this revival under the direction of Stanley M. Garner and featuring a host of exciting artists making their company debuts, seems fresh, vibrant, and altogether more entertaining than in its previous outings.
Although the singers may be new to LA Opera, most are Magic Flute veterans. Both Matthew Polenzani (Tamino) and Nathan Gunn (Papageno) have sung the roles in the Metropolitan Opera production by Julie Taymor that initiated the Met’s live HD broadcasts in movie theatres around the country.
Polenzani’s bright tenor soared effortlessly through the score, and he even managed to bring some princely gravity to the proceedings despite his clown-white make-up and fire engine red hair. He was well-matched by Marie Arnet as his beloved princess, Pamina. Arnet brought remarkable color and variation to her role and sang with a gleaming tone and sweet sincerity.
Barihunk Nathan Gunn, nearly unrecognizable in his feathers and yellow hose as the bird-catcher Papageno., was predictably funny and engaging. The surprise came from how touchingly human his Papageno became as the performance progressed. L’ubica Vargicova’s villainous Queen of the Night sang her stratospheric arias with precision and panache.
World-renowned recitalist Mathias Goerne brought substance and subtlety to the role of the Speaker, while Austrian bass, Gunther Groissbock, was an impressively commanding and sympathetic Sarastro with a plangent and unforced bass. Tamara Wilson, Lauren McNeese, and Beth Clayton were a hoot as the Queen’s Three Ladies, and they managed the comedy without sacrificing musical standards. Greg Fedderly impressed again as the frustrated Monostatos, and Amanda Squitieri was a feisty Papagena.
Scarfe’s brightly colored, Egyptian cartoon world sparkles like new. And, if his costumes tend to make caricatures of the humans, his adorably bizarre menagerie still manages to enchant. His Oompa-Loompa conception of Monostatos and his band help solve the problem of a politically incorrect libretto.
James Conlon’s nimble but detailed reading of the score would, no doubt, have pleased the composer.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion January 16 – January 25, 2009 213 972-8001 or www.laopera.com
|
