Review of "The Magic Flute" at Opera Theatre of St. Louis

(L to R) Opera Theatre’s chorus, Lindsey Jones as Isis, and Dwayne Brown as Osiris
in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 2014 production of The Magic Flute.
Photo © Ken Howard, 2014.

There's never a dull moment in the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis production of "The Magic Flute." That's because director Isaac Mizrahi keeps his performers (including a cast of seven dancers) in constant motion. The resulting stage pictures are impressive, but they often threaten to eclipse the music and text.

Written towards the end of the composer's sadly brief life (Mozart had only a few months to live when it premiered in September of 1791), “The Magic Flute” was intended not for an audience of nobles at court but rather for ordinary folks at a suburban theater that was closer in ambience to a tavern. A singspiel with spoken dialog instead of recitatives and a text in German instead of the fashionable Italian, the work is the fantastic tale of heroic prince Tamino and princess Pamina, daughter of the Queen of the Night, who must undergo a series of magical trials at the court of Sarastro, High Priest of the Sun, before they can attain enlightenment and be united in marriage. Accompanying Tamino in his quest is the comic bird catcher Papageno.

The work's fanciful setting and Masonic symbolism—both Mozart and his librettist Emanuel Schikaneder (the first Papageno) were members of the same lodge—have always given directors and designers ample opportunities to indulge their imaginations. Mr. Mizrahi has taken classic films as his inspiration, placing the opera on "an eternal Hollywood soundstage" and incorporating visual elements from famous movies. Thus, for example, Tamino's black and white outfit strongly echoes that of Gene Kelly in "An American in Paris," while the Three Spirits that assist Tamino, normally played by young boys, are sung here by a trio of young women decked out as toddlers and walking on their knees as in the "Triplets" number from "The Band Wagon." Papageno looks like a classic baggy pants comic, his future mate Papagena is an archetypical chorus girl, and the Queen of the Night appears to be inspired by Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard."

Photo: Ken Howard

Indeed, the Queen of the Night provides one of the opera's most visually striking moments as she sweeps up from the stage left vom in an impressive midnight blue gown with a train that follows her all the way up the stairs that lead to the upstage center catwalk, growing in volume until it fills nearly the entire stage. It's a hell of an entrance, and very effectively establishes her melodramatic and self-aggrandizing character.

Scenes in Sarastro's Temple of the Sun are equally impressive, as Mr. Mizrahi fills the stage with Shriners in red fezzes and sports coats, colorful dancing birds, and even dancing statues of Isis and Osiris.

Mr. Mizrahi has, in short, allowed his fertile imagination to give us an almost constant procession of color and movement. And that, ultimately, is the problem. Because far too often that movement pulls focus from the singers and dilutes the impact of their generally fine work. This is especially true when, early in the first act, Mr. Mizrahi begins adding dancers to the mix who shadow the singers in identical costumes and mirror in dance what they're singing. John Heginbotham's 1950s film musical–style choreography is very effective and beautifully performed, but it's also extremely distracting and has the effect, more often than not, of upstaging the singers.

That's a pity, since the cast of this "Magic Flute" is generally a good one. Tenor Sean Panikkar, last seen as Lensky in OTSL's fine "Eugene Onegin" in 2010, is pretty much an ideal Tamino, with a uniformly strong voice and solid acting skills. Baritone Levi Hernandez brings the same finely honed comic sense and crystal-clear diction to Papageno that he brought to Leporello in "Don Giovanni" two seasons ago.

Photo: Ken Howard

Soprano Elizabeth Zharoff, a former Gerdine Young Artist, is the very essence of wide-eyed innocence as Pamina, with a lovely fluid voice. Her Act II "despair" aria was masterfully done. Soprano Claire de Sévigné was a dramatic and compelling Queen of the Night, but (at least on opening night) seemed to have a couple of rough spots in the notoriously challenging Act II "revenge" aria.

Tenor Matthew DiBattista, who has graced the OTSL stage with so many fine performances in the past, delivers yet another as the villainous Monostatos, whose lustful intentions towards Pamina are repeatedly thwarted to comic effect.

Bass Matthew Anchel's Sarastro is a bit of a disappointment. A bass's very low notes are always difficult to project (and Sarastro's part goes very low in places), but even so his voice seemed to lack power throughout its range and his character came across as stilted. That might be deliberate—Mr. Mizrahi has indicated that his sympathies are more with the Queen of the Night than with Sarastro—but if that's the case I don't think it's an effective choice.

There's noteworthy work here as well in all the minor roles, all the way down to tenor Frederick Ballentine and bass-baritone Zachary Owen as the Two Armed Men, smoothly delivering their "purification" chorale prelude before Tamino and Pamina's trials by fire and water.

Photo: Ken Howard

Conductor Jane Glover, who was so impressive in Don Giovanni in 2011, once again demonstrates that she is a dab hand at Mozart, leading the musicians in a bracing and sensitive interpretation of the score. Her reading of the overture was one of the best I've heard.

Speaking of which: I have a dream that some day I'll see an opera on the Loretto Hilton stage in which the overture will not be accompanied by lots of noisy stage business. One can but hope.

In a review of Robert Lepage's Ring cycle at the Met in 2011, New York Times critic Charles Isherwood noted that “the first responsibility of the director should be serving the musical drama,” and went on to describe a production that “seems to be perpetually in competition for our attention with the opera itself.” I wouldn't go quite that far with Mr. Mizrahi's "Magic Flute" since, the dancers aside, his staging generally clarifies and enhances the opera overall, but it does often feel as though he's doing his level best to distract us with flash and glitter. I think this production, thought generally successful, could have been much better had it been much simpler.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis's "The Magic Flute" runs through June 28th in rotating repertory with three other operas. To get the full festival experience, come early and have a picnic supper on the lawn or under the refreshment tent. You can bring your own food or purchase a gourmet supper in advance from Ces and Judy's. Drinks are available on site as well, or you can bring your own. For more information: experienceopera.org.

This review originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Review of Opera Theatre of St. Louis's "Cosi fan tutte"

The cast of Cosi fan tutte
Copyright Ken Howard, 2012

Would we still be doing Cosi fan Tutte if it didn't have music by Mozart? Sure, Da Ponte’s libretto has a cynical modern edge, but its casual sexism is pretty grating to a contemporary audience. Director Michael Shell nevertheless makes a good case for it right up to the final ensemble, when his deliberately revisionist take lost me completely. Still, it’s beautifully sung and played and intelligently acted, and that’s what really matters.

Cosi fan tutte roughly translates as "all women are like that". The excellent modern English rhyming translation by British composer and director Jeremy Sams tries to take a bit of the anti-woman sting out of it by translating it as “we’re all like that”, but there’s no getting around the fact that the libretto is far more critical of the constancy of women. The guys get a free pass.

For those of you new to it, the plot of Cosi goes like this: two army officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, are so convinced of the faithfulness of their fiancées—Dorabella and her sister Fiordiligi, respectively—that they accept a bet from their cynical philosopher friend Don Alfonso that the women can't be seduced. Don Alfonso convinces the boys to go away on a mock military expedition and then return in disguise and attempt to woo each other’s fiancées. The usual complications ensue, helped along by the wily and very practical maid Despina. It’s all wrapped up with a not entirely convincing happy ending in which everyone rather improbably agrees to forgive and forget, but only after the disillusioned officers are forced to admit, in the words of Sherlock Holmes, that "women are never to be entirely trusted—not the best of them."

This may sound like the basis for a romantic comedy, and most of the time it is. But Cosi sails deeper waters than that, and in Act II the comedy stops dead for some dramatic arias that point out the very real pain and guilt that come with betrayal—a subject very much on Mozart’s mind at the time. Mr. Shell and his excellent cast make no attempt to sugar-coat any of the drama, which works very well, but faced with the abrupt shift to a happy ending, he has chosen to have them play against the text and make it plain that the women are still justifiably resentful and their fiancées still suspicious. I understand the logic, but to me if felt no more satisfying than playing the finale as written.

Part of the problem, I think, is that this Cosi is beautifully set and costumed (by James Schuette) as a late 18th-century period piece, so having Dorabella and Fiordiligi respond to the abusive behavior of Ferrando and Guglielmo as modern women would seems jarring. It would have made more sense, I think, to do the whole thing in modern dress (which, after all, is how it was done in 1790) and adopt a 21st-century attitude from the start. Jonathan Miller famously (or maybe infamously) did that back in 1995. That production has been revived often (most recently in Washington, D.C, earlier this year) but it has been (to say the least) controversial, others might be reluctant to follow his example.

Still, for the three hours and ten minutes preceding that final ensemble, Opera Theatre’s Cosi fan tutte is firing on all cylinders. The comedy of the first act is hilarious and precise, the dramatic scenes in the second act are played with great feeling, and the voices of this very strong cast are solid. Mr. Shell is a bit overly fond of having his cast stand on furniture and roll around on the floor (although less so than in last season’s Don Giovanni), but on the whole he keeps the action plausible and motivated in ways that more opera directors would do well to emulate.

Tenor David Portillo and baritone Liam Bonner make a great “Mutt and Jeff” comedy duo as Guglielmo and Ferrando. Mr. Portillo has a very impressive head voice, which he uses to great effect in the more dramatic moments in the second act, while Mr. Bonner’s instrument is clear and powerful voice throughout its range. They blend nicely in their ensembles.

Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen makes an impressive Opera Theatre debut as Fiordiligi. The role is a challenging one, with some heavy dramatic lifting in the second act and florid passages throughout. She handles it all with ease. Mezzo Kathryn Leemhuis, who has done such fine work here in the past, continues her winning streak with an impeccably sung and acted Dorabella.

As the indispensable Despina, Soprano Jennifer Aylmer steals every scene she’s in, especially when Despina is passing herself off as a doctor or lawyer. Ms. Aylmer has terrific comic chops and a voice to match. It’s hard to imagine this role being done better.

Baritone James Maddalena is all manipulative insincerity Don Alfonso, a man in whose mouth butter would not only not melt but probably freeze solid as well. His voice seemed a bit lacking in power compared to the rest of the cast, but his acting was beyond reproach.

Robert Ainsley’s chorus is, once again, a model of precision and clarity. The orchestra sounded great under Jean-Marie Zeitouni, with an especially fleet-footed reading of the overture. I would have preferred it if Mr. Shell had refrained from filling the stage with business while the overture was playing, although I must admit Shaun Sheley’s fight choreography was impressive.

So, yes, I have some reservations about Opera Theatre’s Cosi fan tutte but they’re so minor in comparison to all the things that work in this production that I have no hesitation in recommending it. The comedy is uproarious and the drama is affecting. It is, in short, the crown jewel of the season so far.

Performances continue through June 22nd at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic for 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.