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by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, translated by Andrew Porter, directed by Marshall Pynkoski

Opera Atelier, Elgin Theatre, Toronto

April 6-13, 2013

Tamino: “Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön”.

In 1991 Opera Atelier premiered the first period production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) in North America.  It was a joyous production then and, in the company’s third revival of it, it is a joyous production now.  I have seen numerous productions of this opera elsewhere, but Opera Atelier’s production is still my favourite because more than any of the others I’ve seen, including the COC’s new production in 2011, OA captures the childlike sense of wonder that informs this fairy-tale opera.  Because of that, OA’s Magic Flute is the perfect first opera for parents to share with their children.

Like Mozart’s earlier The Abduction from the Seraglio (1782), The Magic Flute (1791) belongs to the popular German version of opera known as the Singspiel and does not use recitative, but alternates song with spoken passages of dialogue.  The main difference between this remount and the last time OA presented the work in 2006 is that director Marshall Pynkoski has decided to include as much of the dialogue as possible by librettist Emanuel Schikaneder, who also was the first Papageno.  This decision has plusses and minuses.  The principal disadvantage is that it extends the opera to three hours and even then not all of Schikaneder’s dialogue can be accommodated.  The length means that parents have to make sure their children, preferably 10 and up, are prepared for such a long evening. 

The principal advantage is that the more of the dialogue that is included, the clearer and richer the story becomes.  Only in dialogue that is normally cut do we learn anything about the importance of the Queen of the Night’s husband and that he was the one who carved the magic flute.  In the full dialogue we learn about Papageno’s longing for a Papagena early on and not just before she appears as is usually the case.  The extended dialogue also means additional music that is usually cut such as the trio for Sarastro, Tamino and Pamina in Act 2, Scene 21, “Soll ich dich, Theurer! nicht mehr seh’n?”  Yet, because of the three-hour limit imposed by unions, Pynkoski has had to drop one of the best-known scenes in the opera, Act 2, Scene 24, when Papageno first meets Papagena, disguised as an old woman.

Pynkoski tried adding Schikander’s complete dialogue back in 2001, but then the pacing was not quite right and the additional dialogue seemed to cause the opera to drag.  This time, the case is completely different largely because Pynkoski has cast the production with singers who are also consummate actors.  In their hands the dialogue sparkles with humour and naturally leads into the arias and ensembles.  For the first time, we get much more of an idea of what the first performance of this favourite opera must have been like. 

Colin Ainsworth and Olivier LaQuerre, who played Tamino and his bird-seller companion Papageno in 2006, return in those roles and make an even stronger impression.  Ainsworth, with his boyish good looks and his beautiful high tenor, is an ideal Tamino.  As he has grown older his voice has only gained in power and expressivity.  In such an ensemble opera, if anyone could be singled out as the “star” it would be Ainsworth for the consistent beauty of his singing and the intensity of his acting.

LaQuerre is a joy as Papageno.  Not only does his velvety bass-baritone bring out the folksong-like quality of Pagageno’s arias but LaQuerre is a natural comedian with an innate sense of perfect timing.  The scene where he visibly chafes under the commandment to be silent and mocks Tamino shushing is hilarious.  Papageno represents the “natural man” in contrast to Tamino’s “spiritual man”.  LaQuerre shows him as a child of nature with behaviour that is sometimes childlike, sometimes childish, that LaQuerre enhances with birdlike movements and gestures.

              

The one failing of OA’s productions of The Magic Flute has always been the character of Monostatos, the lascivious Moor Sarastro has posted to guard Pamina.  This time the role is not performed in blackface.  Rather Aaron Ferguson wears a black, Chinese-style mask and pounds his bare white chest as he complains about how people disdain his black skin.  This is a good solution for presenting Monostatos, but OA has always cast a “comic tenor” in this role.  Ferguson is certainly nimble and athletic, but he tends to bark out his arias rather than sing them.  Truly singing them with expression can radically alter how we perceive this character.  In a production I saw by the Royal Swedish Opera in 2006, Niklas Björling Rygert was able to make Monostatos a sympathetic character who struggles with his desires before he gives into them.  This approach actually makes more sense of the role since why, of all people available, would Sarastro have chosen an untrustworthy person to guard Pamina?  It makes the opera richer if we recognize that Sarastro is testing Monostatos just as he tests the other “natural man” Papageno. 

In cut versions of the opera, the Three Ladies have little to do.  With the dialogue restored their roles grow and with it the comedy.  Carla Huhtanen, Cassandra Warner and Laura Pudwell are wonderful in these roles, not just because of how well they blend their voices but also in how they amusingly escalate the Ladies’ struggle among themselves to be with Tamino.  This is a key point.  The Three Ladies may have rescued Tamino but their infighting relates them to the egocentrism and passion of the Queen of the Night and the forces of darkness as opposed to the selflessness and rationality of Sarastro and the forces of light.

It is a good move to blend the Speaker and the Second Armed Man into one character embodied here by Curtis Sullivan.  Cian Horrobin plays the First Armed Man.  As with the Three Ladies, when the dialogue is cut, their parts are small.  With the dialogue restored we see they are more significant figures and here, too, there is much more comedy as the Second Armed Man has so much difficulty trying to get Papageno to follow the temple rules. 

As a director Pynkoski as been able to draw performances from the entire cast as fine in acting the dialogue as in singing their musical numbers.  This is an achievement one rarely sees in opera but which, of course, is necessary when the amount of spoken dialogue is increased.  One couldn’t help but wish that the actors at Canada’s largest classical theatre festival could enunciate and project as well and do so with as much nuance and emotion.

David Fallis draws such lively, committed music-making from the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra that the familiar score shines like new.  The horn section deserves special praise for the accuracy and gorgeous sonority of their playing.

OA’s production with sets and painted drops by Gerard Gauci, sumptuous costumes by Dora Rust-D’Eye and tasteful choreography by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg has served Opera Atelier and Toronto well for the past twenty-two years and is so imaginatively conceived that it could easily play another twenty years without our ever tiring of its pleasures.

              

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

Photo: (top) Carla Huhtanen, Colin Ainsworth, Laura Pudwell, Olivier LaQuerre and Cassandra Warner; (middle) João Fernandes and Laura Albino. ©2013 Bruce Zinger.

For tickets, visit www.operaatelier.com.