THE MAGIC OF THE FLUTE

The Three Spirits:  Lorenzo Jordan, Cecilia Antonelle and Elizabeth Sharp

If you read this in time you can still see New York Opera Exchange's charming production of Mozart's Magic Flute Sunday at 3PM at All Souls Unitarian Church.  You will thank us for the recommendation.  Artistic Director Justin Werner, Musical Director Alden Gatt and Director Andreas Hager are responsible for bringing this work to the stage with a fresh spirit that left the young audience smiling and enlightened as to what opera can be.  It thrilled us to see several hundred young people filling the acoustically excellent church and enjoying themselves so much.

We do not mean to imply that Mr. Hager has burdened the familiar work with a far-out unworkable concept; rather he has mounted a traditional production with thought-provoking psychological insight.  Pamina, sung by the always excellent and beautiful Margaret Newcomb, is a troubled child of divorced parents who, at one point, is ready to kill herself until the three adorable spirits pictured above dissuade her with gorgeous harmony and persuasive words.

Father Sarastro, well sung and acted by bass-baritone Javier Ortiz, is pompous, controlling, self-righteous, sexist and insufficiently protective of his daughter, leaving her vulnerable to the amorous advances of Monastatos, tenor Victor Starsky.  Mother Queen of the Night,  high-flying coloratura soprano Julie Norman, has the advantage of having earned her daughter's love and being eager to help her to a worthy husband; she dispatches the importunate Monastatos with a wave of the hand, injuring him exactly where potential rapists should be hurt.  But, she is undone by her vengefulness when she tries to get Pamina to kill her father.

Instead of casting Tamino as a tall handsome prince, he is seen as a chubby pubescent boy (fine tenor Joseph Palarca) who is still playing with stuffed animals at bedtime.  But when he falls asleep his dream-life is filled with the characters of the opera as he enters the phase of life called "growing up". 

If there is a star-turn in the opera, it is the Papageno of Paull-Anthony Keightley, an Australian baritone who knows just how to use his expressive face and flexible body to create an original version of this lovable character. The "birds" he catches are girls!   He shows Tamino a Playboy centerfold, thus providing the impetus for the boy to shift his attention from stuffed animals to a beautiful girl.  Not to worry about bringing the kids; this centerfold is fully dressed!  Happily, Papageno gets his Papagena at the end, the lovely soprano Anna Richardson.

From here on in, Tamino continues on his journey to young adulthood, armed with his rescue fantasy.  With the help of Papageno, a gift-wrapped magic flute and magic bells, and the guidance of the three spirits, he is able to find the girl of his dreams and endure the trials that will lead to his enlightenment.  To be a man, he must learn to be steadfast, silent and patient.

The three ladies (lots of threes appear in this Freemasonry-inspired tale with libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder) are very nicely sung indeed by sopranos Amanda Matson and Jennifer Russo with big beautiful Helena Brown taking the mezzo part.  Their voices are superbly balanced creating gorgeous harmonies.  Bass-baritone Victor Clark took the role of the Speaker and Scott Ingham distinguished himself as an Armored Man whose tenor soared above the orchestra.

Not only were all the singers first-rate but the New York Opera Exchange Orchestra, comprising 31 astute musicians, were guided into a performance Mozart himself would have approved.  We would be remiss not to mention the principal flutist A. Lish Lindsey.  Magic flute indeed.

Costumes by Joel Yapching were clever.  Papageno was dressed like Tony the Tiger; Tamino wore odd pajama pieces, Pamina wore a black corset and sheer skirt, the Queen of the Night had an other-worldly headpiece, Monastatos wore white athletic gear, and the three young spirits were dressed as school kids with back packs.  We were puzzled that Papagena had a feathered cape and cap when Papageno bore no feathers.  We also wondered why the members of Sarastro's community all wore dark glasses.  There was a scene in which donning the dark glasses symbolized enlightenment; this seemed rather counter-intuitive.

Set design was by Lucas Womack and could not have been more simple--just a bed for Tamino to fall asleep on and later for Pamina to occupy in the room in which she must fight off Monastatos.  The pulpit and the stairs leading up to it were employed as needed.  German diction was mostly good and, if you were German speaking, you could definitely understand without the titles.

We understand that this singspiel was originally created by a talented troupe in a low-rent theater and made a big hit.  Well, we are happy to report that in over 200 years talented small companies are still doing the same thing!

© meche kroop

ROMEO AND JULIET FOR TODAY

Scott Ingham and Kendra Berentsen-photo by Jacob Lopez

In Shakespeare's play, we are moved by the language; in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's ballet, the choreography gives us thrill after thrill; in Charles Gounod's opera Roméo et Juliette, the music goes straight to the heart.  As presented by the New York Opera Exchange this past weekend, we were presented with a modern dress version performed by some superb young artists and the New York Opera Exchange Orchestra, conducted by David Leibowitz.

Gounod's music always relates to the emotions of the scene and serves to augment the feelings.  The overture is portentous and has some interesting fugue-like figures originating with Concertmaster Suxiao Sue Yang.  We want to commend the chorus (comprising singers with smaller roles) for such fine diction.  French is one of the more difficult languages to sing clearly and, in this case, every word was understood.  We wondered who coached them--perhaps Music Director Alden Gatt?

We were very impressed with soprano Kendra Berentsen who made an innocent and vulnerable Juliette, expressing her emotions with a room-filling sound and beautiful phrasing.  The challenging aria "Je veux vivre" is filled with trills, thrills and scales, none of which daunted her; her easeful upper register resonated gloriously.  The harmonies with her Roméo were delightful and emphasized the chemistry between the two.  Tenor Scott Ingham was superb in that role, demonstrating a powerful sound and some top-notes that were free of the strain so often heard in young tenors.  We loved his "Ah! Lève-toi soleil". We eagerly awaited the softer orchestral passages in the final scene in order to hear what he sounded like at reduced volume.

Special mention must be made of baritone Nicholas A. Wiggins who performed the role of Mercutio as well as we have ever heard it.  The "Ballad of Queen Mab" was superb.  Mezzo Rebecca Henry made the most of her role as Gertrude, Juliet's nurse.  Initially she was quite disapproving of her charge's romance but she comes around to a place of empathy.  In the pants role of Stephano, mezzo Sarah Miller gave a spirited performance and sang "Que fais-tu blanche tourtourelle?" with a lovely sound and fine vibrato.

Bass-baritone Colin Whiteman was fine as Frère Laurent, Victor Starsky sang the role of Tybalt, Joseph Palarca performed the role of Benvolio, Joseph Beckwith was a kindly father Capulet and Javier Ortiz was Paris.

We were delighted to observe the youthful nature of the audience; perhaps they related more to the contemporary clothing (costumes?).  We, sadly, did not.  The story is a window into another century and another country.  It could not have happened in the USA in present times.  We did not miss the swordplay but we did miss the authenticity.  For example, a sleeping potion would not be given by a cleric to his parishioner whereas a friar would have known all about herbs and potions.  Similarly we found the bizarre headdresses used to replace the masks at the ball to be a distracting touch; indeed Juiette was obliged to wear a schooner on her head!  But these are minor quibbles when the overall production and musical values were so excellent.  The production was directed by Andreas Hager.  We are looking forward to Die Zauberflöte in February!

© meche kroop