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OPERA REVIEW
Summertime, and The Magic Flute's Not So Easy
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By Jules Langert
Under the best of circumstances, producing such a complex opera as Mozart's The Magic Flute is a difficult task for any opera company. Doing it in the context of a brief summer music festival without a thoroughly professional cast is bound to produce an uneven outcome. Simply bringing it off at all is something of a feat. The results of the Mendocino Music festival's production last Friday night was predictably mixed.
Most successful vocally and in his characterization was baritone Vincent Russo as Papageno, the bird catcher. His stage presence was natural, his gestures and vocal inflections inventive and appropriate, and his comic sense of the character consistent and true. Matthew Miksak's Sarastro was also well sung but there was no urgency in his conflict with the evil Queen and no warmth in his protective feelings for the hero and heroine.
Of the women, Sara Lamar MacBride was mostly convincing as Pamina and Victoria Howell was very accomplished vocally as the Queen of the Night. Less happily, Terrill Warren as Tamino seemed uncomfortable in the higher tenor register and Joseph Meyers' Monostatos was an insufficiently comic villain.
The orchestra under Allan Pollock's direction gave a lively and cogent account of the score. Costumes and makeup by Vanessa Taub were quite good for Papageno, Papagena, and the Queen of the Night. Sarastro and his priests were also well turned out. Only Monostatos and the three spirits needed improvements in their costumes. Diane Larson's sets were effective, but her serpent was too whimsical and ineffectual making Tamino's reaction seem foolish and absurd.
This opera begins to resemble a sung pageant unless the
characters portray believable emotions with conviction and
authority, supported by convincing action. Papageno and
the three ladies were able to do this but not the three
spirits; Pamina more so than Tamino, and Monostato scarcely,
at all. In general, movement on stage tended to be uncertain
and static. Perhaps pressures of rehearsal time and the
confinement of the tent prevented a better realization of
the action.
As with the chamber concert Thursday, Friday's enjoyable but less than ideal performance probably reflects the demands of festival programming. In chamber music the performers may have to compromise their own convictions to get a piece in shape during a few hectic rehearsals. In opera, one cannot always get the right person for the role, especially on short notice and a tight budget. To address such problems in opera , the festival might well choose less demanding works and present them in concert or semi-staged versions.
A project such as the Mendocino Music Festival is a kind
of miracle that recreates itself each year with the aid of enormous dedication, talent, organizing ability, hard-won money, and sheer good luck. The festival continues through Saturday, July 24, with another performance of the opera, two orchestral concerts, chamber music programs featuring twentieth century music, and another lecture recital. It is well worth a visit. I should add that the festival is enhanced by its proximity to the ocean, the radiant climate, the charm and distinction of the town, the excellent food and. lodging available, and the general conviviality as part of the atmosphere of the place.
(Jules Langert is a composer and teacher who resides in the East Bay.)
©1999 Jules Langert, all rights reserved
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