Die Zauberflote at Staatsoper im Schiller Theatre, etc.

"Die Zauberfloete" is supposed to be a fabulous blend of whimsy, philosophy, and really cool music, right? Well, yes. It also happens to be one of my less-favorite operas, and one of my dad's favorites. I saw it the other day at the Schiller Theater, in what the program informed me is an eighteen year old production. It shows. Musically, it was impeccable, but overall the production seemed tired, like a tasty cake that's been left out for too long and grown stale. Pretty enough, but not palatable.

This "Flute" was a very traditional production: Papageno was in feathers, Sarastro and Company were all Egyptian, Monostatos was in blackface. Tamino was a goob. Really, I don't think that Mozart and Schikeneder intended for their tenorial hero to come across as a meathead, but they certainly succeeded in making him such. Is it just me, or do Mozartean tenors seem to have problems with characterization? Tamino is a goob, Tito is way too nice, Don Ottavio is a schmuck. Methinks the great man preferred baritones as the heroes.

There are a few things that I dislike about "The Magic Flute", the main being Sarastro's attitude towards women. "Women are a little crazy; they need men to show them what to do." I don't think I'd have such a problem with it if my dad didn't still subscribe to this theory, and if he hadn't been quoting it at me all week. But I digress.

There were a few things that I hadn't expected in this production: the Three Ladies popped out of the dragons' mouths (there were three dragons), thus leading to the idea that Tamino had been cornered for a reason; unfortunately, this was never explored any further. Papageno and Papagena managed to produce about fifteen feather-covered children in three minutes, who then proceeded to invade the stage and make everyone laugh. But my absolute favorite part was during Papageno's suicide attempt, when he gives three signals, calling Papagena.

"Eins!" he said, and blew his whistle. "Zwei!" and blew it again.
"DREI!" shrieked a little girl in the audience, and everyone lost it.

The singer playing Papageno, Gyula Orendt, looked out at the audience for a split second; the little girl, whose voice gave her age as about five, helpfully called out "Drei!" again.
"Drei!" he repeated, once everyone had stopped giggling.

Also funny was the little boy who spent the second act hanging over the back of my chair, right between my dad and I, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He was four, his mom informed me, and had seen the children's version, but wanted to see the real thing. He was completely, totally glued. Adorable.

Musically, the production was impeccable. Sarastro was sung by Alexander Vinogradov, whom I saw as Basilio in "Barbier" here in October. He seems to be a fixture at the Staatsoper; he's very good, so I'm glad. Tamino, sung by Stephan Rugamer, was less good, but this is more character-related than anything, so I'll let it pass. Katherina Muller's Pamina was just fabulous, full-voiced and spunky. The Queen of the Night was sung by Iride Martinez, and she pwned everyone.

Bottom line: four out of five stars to the singers, and two out of five to the production. Dear Staatsoper: hire yourself a new director and get a new "Flute". You've earned it.