Review: Die Zauberflöte"N.J. Opera's Magic Flute"Philadelphia Inquirer (David Patrick Stearns) With its mad fusion of vaudeville, fantasy and profound spirituality, The Magic Flute is one of those brand-name operas that works only occasionally as a solid stage entity, though with its great Mozart tunes and fun characters, it's hard to say why. So New Jersey Opera, in its three-production season at the McCarter's Berlind Theatre, is automatically lauded for its effort to make the theatrically sprawling plot live in more integrated ways... The production represented the kind of light experimentation that can happen in smallish summer opera companies with flexible young singers … in the cozy 350-seat venue, which opens up a range of subtle possibilities not available in big theaters. Theatrical intelligence was immediately apparent in this rite-of-passage parable when the first scene's dragon (always a difficult effect) initially appeared in computer animation that was all the more effective for its sketchy, high-contrast look. A live-action dragon then appeared, manipulated by a secondary character (Monostatos) who later becomes a double agent between forces of good and evil. All went well from there with the Queen of the Night's sexy, funny trio of emissaries, all intriguingly shadowed by younger alter egos. The queen herself, sung with effective accuracy by Colleen Daly, was a bundle of charismatic imperiousness. The production proceeded with scene-suggesting slides on shifting panels… …Peter Couchman [Papageno], is a vocal marvel with a plush baritone voice recalling (and this is the highest praise) Matthias Goerne. |
 |
Join Our Mailing List | Opera New Jersey, Inc., PO Box 3151, Princeton, NJ 08543 (609) 799-7700 | Contact Us |
