Opera North have brought their tour of The Magic Flute to Salford and Manchester after opening earlier this year in Leeds. This is a very popular opera in spite of narrative difficulties - it is a comedy, a romance, a pantomime, a fairy tale, a thriller and an allegory promoting enlightenment values and philosophy all at once! James Brining, as director, had an epic vision for this production and there were many elements that made his version stand out, particularly in the sumptuousness of the set, costumes and lighting effects but also in small but important details of interpretation. The overture is started by a young girl in her nightgown, getting ready for bed as she puts on a record and we hear the crackle of vinyl and then the magnificent opening notes of one of the most popular overtures of all rising from the orchestra pit.
The orchestra here is modest compared to other opera but the size is entirely fitting for an authentic experience of Mozart’s music. The orchestra of Opera North included authentic instrumentation from the classical period such as basset horns and a keyed glockenspiel.
Initially I worried that the orchestral forces were too small for the enormous Lowry Theatre which had an audience of up to three times the amount that Mozart had at his opening night in Vienna in 1791, but I did not need to worry, the delicacy and swell of the music was never lost nor underwhelming.
The first act opened with a spectacular set placing us sometime in the 20th century in an elegant house in which we see a young girl getting ready for bed, assisted by her nanny. In a separate room we see a richly dressed dining table – raucous guests arrive and the dinner party gets a bit out of hand – domesticity is interrupted with arguments and some tension. This occurs during the overture and segues neatly into the opening scene with our hero, Tamino, being attacked by a vicious monster. How is this achieved? The little girl finally gets to sleep and begins to dream. Bit by bit, her home transforms into the fantasy kingdom in which The Magic Flute is set. This is an excellent idea which is carried out really well.
Tamino, unfortunately, is rather underwhelming in his performance – and he is not the only one. The majority of the leads – Tamino (Kang Wang), The Queen of the Night (Samantha Hay), Pamina (Vuvu Mpofu) and Sarastro (John Savournin) – were either without emotion or had such mumbled diction that it was very difficult to hear what they were singing about in spite of perfect vocal projection. This was made worse by some poor lighting which saw the faces in shadow too many times. Facial expression is so important in opera, it was often lost here. I would expect and hope that the lighting was an issue of a first night performance in a new theatre. Don’t get me wrong – each and every performer had fantastic projection and beautiful and impressive singing voices – Hay certainly got us excited with those top notes of possibly the most famous aria of all - Der Holle Rache – and while her rage and anger were intense, I simply did not know what she was singing about. Savournin – in spite of having a cold, as announced before the curtain went up, had wonderful warmth in the lower notes of some of the most beautiful songs written for bass voice, and he indeed had excellent diction – but there was very little emotion in his songs. O Isis Und Osiris – a hymn evoking the Egyptian gods, should be filled with intense supplication and deep emotion but was delivered as matter of fact.
Papageno was played by Irish baritone Gavin Ring and he outshone everyone on stage – he had the voice but also the face, the emotion, humour and pace that was so missing from the other performers. He performed the part as an Irish character, with an occasional 'feck' and 'lads' thrown in to his dialogue. His character is a secondary one, a stock buffoon but apart from making us laugh – landing his punches every single time – he made us also care for his character. The scene in which he contemplates ending it all at the thought he had lost the love of his life, Papagena, had its moments of humour, with direct address to the audience, but also had a pathos. This contrasted enormously with a similar scene in which Pamina, our heroine, thinks that Tamino no longer loves her – she also contemplates death with the dagger given to her by her mother. She is saved by the three spirits that are guiding the protagonists to safety, but really we stopped caring. I didn’t understand a word of this, I couldn’t see her face – completely in shadow – and I found myself nodding off.
Some of this you could attribute to tiredness, teething problems on an opening night, Savournin’s cold, but ultimately the story began to be lost about half way through the second half. It is a difficult narrative, and it must be driven by emotional delivery from the characters, but really the direction seemed to run out of steam. The scene in which the Queen Of The Night is finally vanquished by Sarastro was quick, unclear and underwhelming. Sarastro pointed to a door and his enemy, The Queen Of The Night, left through it. He closes the door behind her. Hardly a liberation.
A final gripe I had with this version is with the character of Papagena. She is meant to embody the perfect woman for Papageno. When he first meets her, she is meant to be uninteresting to him, but upon him eventually pledging his love to her, she is meant to transform into a beautiful bird-catcher like himself, her costume matching his wild, forest looks – complete with wings and a beak. Director James Brining for some reason decided to ignore this transformation. While creative license is of course allowed, in this instance he completely trod over a vital concept of The Magic Flute – love has a transformative value, virtue brings its rewards. Poor Papageno.
This was a visually stunning opera, as can be expected from Opera North, and praise must indeed be given to the creative team – Colin Richmond as set and costume designer, Robert Howarth, as conductor, Douglas O’Connell as video designer (there were quite a few fantastic and clever visual effects) and I will extend this to the lighting designer, Chris Davey, with the hope that his design encountered technical issues rather than design problems.
Overall, this felt like a rehearsal and conceptual test rather than a finished product. It was truly fantastic at some moments, and underwhelming in others. I would love to see a revision of this, but I must say I was disappointed by last night’s performance.
The biggest cheer of the night, deservedly, went to Papageno – Gavin Ring, the second biggest cheer went to the guy who signed it for the deaf and hard of hearing, and while he deserved that applause, it says a lot about those who didn’t get a smiliar response.
Reviewer - Aaron Loughrey
on - 5/2/19
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