Mozart’s The Magic Flute has something for everyone. The
composer and his librettist Shikaneder created a singspiel in 1791 with an
extraordinary jumble of style and music that was obviously meant to have a
broad appeal. And it still does. If it’s romance you’re after Tamino’s noble
quest to rescue princess Pamina will win you over, for comedy watch Papageno
trying to bag his bird, there’s fantasy in the magical instruments and dancing
animals and for religion try the Freemason ideology.
Typically productions of The Magic Flute emphasise either
the pantomime aspect or the Masonic saintliness. WA Opera’s restaging of Goran
Jarvefelt’s Opera Australia production (last seen in Perth in 2008)
concentrates on the people as psychologically true. The audience is invited along
on the journey of self-discovery.
In keeping with the realism the opera was sung in English
with Australian-ised dialogue, which meant the audience received the full brunt
of the comic banter. Papageno delivered
lines like “better an old chook than no chook at all” and the audience
delighted in the accessible humour and frolicking costumed animals.
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| Pamino's flute bewitches the animals. Photo James Rogers |
Under Rachel McDonald’s direction Monostatos was thankfully no
longer cast as a black character and Pamina’s rejection of him was put down to
his ‘ugliness’. Liberty was also taken with the translation to smooth over some
of the gender shockers. It was tempting given the refreshingly updated language to envision modern dress too; instead 18th century wigs and
stockings abounded. Admittedly the gilded frock coats and bustling silk skirts
added a touch of opulence to Carl Friedrich Oberle’s otherwise plain set: three
walls marked with Freemason slogans Wisdom, Nature, Reason.
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| The bustle of silk - Queen of the Night with Three Ladies. Photo James Rogers |
Young tenor Alexander Lewis made his WA Opera debut as
Tamino singing on opening night with boyish fervour and a promising dark-hued glow.
Katja Webb’s (Pamina) well-centred soprano was impeccably controlled, opening
up into glorious top notes and whisper-soft in her tender Act Two aria ‘Ah I
feel it’.
James Clayton’s comical Papageno was all the more impressive
remembering the darkness of his recent Iago in Otello. His interaction with Papagena
(the winsome Jennifer Barrington) was pure delight.
Minor roles included an outstanding trio of Ladies (Fiona
Campbell, Sarah Guilmartin, Caitlin Cassidy), Three Boys (Thomas McQuillan, Harry
Playford, Oliver Freyne) who couldn’t be topped for polish or cuteness and
Daniel Sumegi as a regal, fatherly Sarastro. The villain roles were less
successful: Milica Ilic was inconsistent as Queen of the Night and Robert
Macfarlane empty bluster as Monostatos.
The chaos of The Magic Flute is held together by Mozart’s
music which spins (as only Mozart can) one marvellous melody after another:
tender love songs interspersed with birdcalls and majestic hymns. Conductor Brad
Cohen drew a fine performance from the WA Symphony Orchestra: joyful, coherent
and synchronised. It’s hard to top Magic Flute and there is much to love in
this production.
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