Reviews 2008
Reviews 2008
✭✭✭✭✩
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by Marshall Pynkoski
Opera Atelier, Elgin Theatre, Toronto
November 8-15, 2008
Earlier this year Opera Atelier presented Mozart’s Idomeneo of 1781. Now it has unveiled a blissful new production of the opera Mozart wrote the following year, The Abduction for the Seraglio. It is a testament to Mozart’s genius, and the talent of Opera Atelier, that Abduction is as comic and light-hearted as Idomeneo was tragic and profoundly moving.
The simple story follows the attempts of Belmonte (Frédéric Antoun) to free his beloved Konstanze (Amanda Pabyan) and her British maid Blondie (Carla Huhtanen) from the harem of the Pasha Selim (Curtis Sullivan) along with his servant Pedrillo (Lawrence Wiliford), all guarded by the Pasha’s overseer Osmin (Gustav Andreassen). While the plot may be straightforward and the characters lacking the psychological depth of those in Mozart’s later operas, the arias Mozart wrote for Abduction are some of his most demanding. Fortunately, OA has assembled an ideal cast of exciting singers who are equally adept at comedy as vocal fireworks. The incredibly handsome Antoun has beautiful voice to match and is sure to set hearts aflutter. Pabyan is able to carry on a physical knock-down fight in the midst of soaring vocal acrobatics. Huhtanen consistently brings down the house with her wry humour and immaculate vocal technique, while Wiliford’s encounters with Andreassen, who commands a seemingly bottomless bass, are the prime engine of the work’s laugh-out-loud comedy.
Director Marshall Pynkoski anchors the work's humour in its sometimes bawdy commedia dell’arte origins, even costuming Pedrillo and Blondie as Harlequin and Columbine. Jeannette Lajeunesse-Zingg infuses the piece with dance whenever possible but requires a reprise of the opera’s famous overture at the end to allow for an extended ballet sequence that raises the jubilant finale to new heights. This is North America’s first production of Abduction on period instruments, and under conductor David Fallis they give the music welcome lightness and bite. In Pynkoski’s hands this sunny work clearly anticipates The Magic Flute with its celebration of the triumph of reason over hatred, mercy over revenge. With its dialogue spoken in English, this production is so accessible, so attractive, so well-acted and so well-sung it would make a splendid introduction to opera in general and to Opera Atelier in particular.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2008-11-10.
Photo: Curtis Sullivan, Amanda Pabyan and dancers. ©Bruce Zinger.
2008-11-10
The Abduction from the Seraglio