Review: The Magic Flute – It Felt Like Mozart Was There

Review by Selwyn Maning.

The Magic Flute – Performed by New Zealand Opera. Accompanied by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. AUCKLAND: ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre Thursday June 16, Saturday June 18, Wednesday June 22, Friday June 24 2016 performances at 7.30pm. Then Sunday June 26, at 2.30pm.

IF YOU GET A CHANCE do treat yourself to New Zealand Opera’s performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which continues this week at Auckland’s ASB Theatre. The music alone is sublime, and, most importantly in honour of Mozart, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra delivers under the baton of conductor Wynn Davies. [caption id="attachment_10598" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Queen of the Night’s three ladies – Amelia Berry, Catrin Johnsson and Kristin Darragh – Image by Marty Melville – New Zealand Opera’s performance of The Magic Flute.
[/caption] The director of New Zealand Opera’s performance of The Magic Flute is Sara Brodie. She has nurtured something special from this opera. She has brought into balance the essential elements of the original while giving opportunity for today’s audience to consider interpretation. There’s conflicting layers to this story, a plot with threads that come together to weave a fairy tale fabric of 21st century life. It transports with relevance. There’s puppetry (a controversy according to one critique) that drew hilarity from the audience. I thought it marvellous. It’s so Mozart. And of course, there’s the music. At times during the Auckland performance, I shut my eyes and simply listened – to the music, to the singing. The orchestra was like the fabled flute and a delight in itself. Under Brodie’s guidance, Kit Hesketh-Harvey’s English translation of The Magic Flute connects with its Auckland audience. Brodie speaks of softening the accents to accommodate her international cast. It works. [caption id="attachment_10579" align="alignright" width="200"] Tamino (Randall Bills) gets his girl Pamina (Emma Fraser) – Image by Marty Melville – New Zealand Opera’s performance of The Magic Flute.[/caption]USA tenor Randall Bills balances wonderfully the initial frailties and eventual conquering dualism of the vulnerable Tamilo’s character. And Sydney-based New Zealand soprano Emma Fraser (who is New Zealand Opera’s 2016 Dame Malvina Major Young Artist) is the perfect balance as Tamino’s infatuation-become-love, Pamina. Emma Fraser’s stage presence wonderfully supports her soprano performance. She is a testament to the quality of this country’s performing artists. And in this role, she is an absolute delight. The UK’s Ruth Jenkins-Robertsson certainly brings alive the dark depths of brooding intent from her character the Queen of the Night when she reveals her malcontent to her supposed beloved daughter Pamina. It’s powerful opera that would lead to tragedy, but for the strength of Pamina and that magical flute. And there was a moment of pure magic at the opening night of the Auckland performance, when a member of the audience called out from his seat somewhere amid the theatre’s front-left stalls. The calling to Papageno would no doubt have had Mozart chuckling from his lofty pew. Immediately, on hearing the call, as if on cue, Papageno, in the hands of Australia’s Samuel Dundas (a graduate of Melbourne’s Melba Conservatorium of Music) interacted and traded banter with the improvising theatre-goer. Then, with the entire audience sharing hilarity, Dundas continued seamlessly with Papageno’s journey. It was comic timing at its best and perfectly in character connecting to the somewhat bawdy, fairy tale, ambience of the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden where the opera was first performed in 1791. [caption id="attachment_10583" align="alignleft" width="640"] Papageno (Samuel Dundas) and Papagena (Madison Nonoa) triumphant in love – Image by Marty Melville – New Zealand Opera’s performance of The Magic Flute.[/caption] Oh, and watch out too for Hamilton’s Madison Nonoa, who is New Zealand Opera’s Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist. She is fabulous in the latter part of Act two in bringing to life a vivacious Papagena (kitted out with an arty leg tattoo). Oh, and Wellington’s Bonaventure Allan-Moetaua, honestly this guy is absolute class, and, an audience pleaser as the conflicted and brooding Monostatos. Of course, The Magic Flute carries perhaps Mozart’s most poignant message. As Sara Brodie said, it isn’t simply a story of good being triumphant over evil. It’s much more than that. It came to me when I closed my eyes to see. At that moment when Papageno sensed hope and broke free from fear and doubt. It was as if Mozart was there in the theatre, his voice clear and speaking as music as his genius fluttered and danced about – speaking from his past to our future, with his cheeky wit, his shock humour, poking fun at the male chauvinists of his time and ours, exposing how dippy in character they were and are, how easily manipulated, how dangerous is the circumstance when envy, jealousy, difference and indifference intersect, when belief and reason, conceit and control align to compel the meek to become the tools of powerful fools. New Zealand Opera created the opportunity for Mozart’s message to be heard. This review isn’t a critique. It’s my celebration of one night at the opera, and my hope that you too will become a witness to a world-class performance of a musical genius’ enduring gift to us all. Cast To Watch: TAMINO Randall Bills FIRST LADY Amelia Berry SECOND LADY Catrin Johnsson THIRD LADY Kristin Darragh PAPAGENO Samuel Dundas PAPAGENA Madison Nonoa QUEEN OF NIGHT Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson MONOSTATOS Bonaventure Allan-Moetaua PAMINA Emma Fraser.

Click here for information about The Magic Flute – pre-show talks and performances on Wednesday evening June 22, Friday evening June 24, and Sunday June 26.

******* The Backstage Backstory: Of course there’s always a huge team of talent that doesn’t make it to the stage, that all play their part to make a performance, to create the opportunity for magic to happen. https://youtu.be/TBU7W3SWUp0 The Director: This performance of The Magic Flute is directed by Sara Brodie. The opera was first performed at Freihaustheater auf der Wieden in Vienna, Austria, on 30 September 1791 only 10 weeks before Mozart’s death. It is said that The Magic Flute is open to interpretation. That its message is varied, is layered within the structure of plot and music. When interviewed for New Zealand Opera’s programme, Director Sara Brodie says: “It is certainly a red herring to think of it as a tale of good versus evil, but its themes are universal. Like a good fairytale it seems to include a lesson, a hidden mystery or meaning to be revealed. “I tend to think of it in layers. There is a conglomerate of theatrical layering, which includes: musical theatre, pantomime, comedy, opera and magical effects. The layers of plot; a quest, lovers who need to prove they are worthy before achieving the sacred marriage, battling leaders, trails in an underworld, and the sub-plot of an everyman. And then the thematic tension of: superstition versus the enlightenment, anima versus animus, and night versus day. “It is most certainly a comedy but one which is subliminal and sublime,” Sara Brodie says. The Set: https://youtu.be/vQnaLHvJnGs NZ Opera’s David Larsen profiled set designer John Verryt for the performance’s programme. He describes how the design concept always begins with the script. Verryt says: “‘It is impossible to read the script too often. With an opera, you want to marinate yourself in the music as well as the story. But this is a matter of listening, not of watching recordings of other productions.’ The great classic operas have design histories stretching back centuries; he does not want those legacies cluttering his head as he starts work… After the opera has soaked into his brain, Verryt starts to draw. Sketches, scribbles, rough ideas.” The final set design became rather a challenge for the performers and choreography team. The raked stage is significantly higher at the rear than the front. That means the cast must perform on a slope which is challenging on feet, ankles, knees. The upside is the sloping stage delivers clearer sound to the audience, the vocals are more accentuated, more balanced.