New Magic in a Mozart Favorite
Marie Arnet (Pamina) and Fabio Trűmpy (Tamino)
PYROTECHNICS, EXPLOSIONS, thunder and lightning, strobe lights, and flying singers: not what is usually expected in classical period opera. But Spoleto USA’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) had all this and more. It lived up to an opera lover’s expectations of being well sung, well conducted, well staged, and well worth spending three hours in the partially renovated Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston.
The Magic Flute is sung and spoken in German. In this production, supertitles provided the English translation, a necessity for those not fluent in the original.
There was more than one magnificent singer. Based on the audience’s reaction during the standing ovation, Swiss bass/baritone Ruben Drole, with his big, rich voice and wonderful stage antics, was the most popular. In the role of Papageno, the bird catcher, Drole projected his comic character with a natural stage presence.
The other big standout was American soprano Audrey Luna as the Queen of the Night, delivering her big aria with note-perfect, high-flying intensity. Literally towering above all others on stilts, American Kevin Short as Sarastro, the Queen’s sworn enemy and leader of the Temple of Wisdom, commanded the stage with his strong, opulent bass/baritone voice and powerful portrayal.
The fanciful Three Ladies (soprano Rebekah Camm, mezzo Audrey Babcock, and mezzo Margaret Lattimore) were a team to behold and hear. Hamming it up, but with taste, and singing exquisitely, they were another audience favorite.
Soprano Marie Arnet’s Pamina (the Queen’s daughter) and Tenor Fabio Trűmpy’s Tamino (Pamina’s love interest) were expressive and poignant. Clear as a bird’s song, soprano Greta Feeny as Papagena (Papageno’s love interest) was appropriately pert. Tenor Beau Palmer’s ungainly Monostatos was convincingly evil.
Ruben Drole as Papageno
None of this would have been possible without conductor Steven Sloane’s sure hand and musical insight. American Sloane was Spoleto’s music director for opera and orchestra in 1998-2000 and has pursued a distinguished career in Europe, Australia, Japan, and the Middle East. By making Mozart’s score come alive and move swiftly, Sloane had the Spoleto Festival Orchestra on their toes, expertly supporting the large cast of singers.
Co-directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, in their eighth Spoleto USA production, displayed vivid imaginations with stunning special effects and expert staging, easily up to their previous standards. Agostino Cavalca’s eclectic costumes were a visual feast. Chrisitan Fenouillat’s austere set was ingenious in its seeming simplicity, but ultimately complex, especially under the intelligent lighting design of Christophe Forey.
The Sottile Theatre now has a short, but distinct reverberation, formerly lost many years ago when it was “sound proofed” for motion pictures. What was found on the walls—after the vast yards of maroon drapes and the underlying acoustical tile were removed—were beautiful 1920s era fresco-like paintings which will be restored.
Was The Magic Flute Mozart’s last opera? Vying for the title of being Mozart’s last opera (the other being La Clemenza di Tito), there is no question of The Magic Flute’s popularity with its heady mix of majestically beautiful music and ridiculous, low-level comedy. The Magic Flute is a Singspiel (a song-play) and La Clemenza di Tito is an opera seria (a drama per musica or melodrama serio) and both come down to us as “operas.” Mozart seems to have been working on the two in 1791, with La Clemenza di Tito premiering September 6 in Prague and The Magic Flute on September 30 in Vienna. You choose. But do go to see and hear this first-rate production.
Photos courtesy of Spoleto USA
