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Die Zauberflöte tunes up with a young cast

Houston
Wortham Theater Center
01/25/2008 -  and January 27 - February 1, 3, 7, 9
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
Eric Cutler (Tamino), Kristin Clayton (First Lady), Maria Markina (Second Lady), Jamie Barton (Third Lady), Patrick Garfizzi (Papageno), Albina Shagimuratova (Queen of the Night), Jan Kolbet (Monostatos), Rebekah Camm (Pamina), Liz Kaufman, Joan Stewart Scheirman, Laura Smolik (Three boys), Chen-Ye Yuan (Speaker of the Temple), Sarastro Raymond Aceto (Sarastro), Beau Gibson, Jeremy Galvon (Priests), Alicia Gianni (Papagena)
The Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Steven Sloane (conductor), Richard Bado (chorus master)
David Hockney (set and costume designer), D.M. Wood (lighting designer), Kevin Newbury (stage director)


A completely unorthodox opera company apart from the US cultural capitals, Houston Grand Opera creates unusual musical events. The most recent is the yoking of Mozart’s two great “Singspiele”, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte, which it is producing concurrently at the Wortham Theater Center.

Houston Grand Opera has an impressive history with Die Zauberflöte. In the late 1970s, it commissioned a new production of the work by Maurice Sendak, an illustrator of children’s books. This production toured the world and was produced many times here and elsewhere. Before, Houston’s first production of Die Zauberflöte in 1965 had, as the Queen of the Night, a soprano who had not yet attained world-class status: Beverly Sills.


For this presentation of Die Zauberflöte, it is mounting the David Hockney stage production initially given at Glyndebourne and then at the Metropolitan Opera. This is a gorgeous production, already released on DVD from the Met, but very different from Houston’s original production. Sendak’s was very colorful, three-dimensional and full of fancy for the imagination. The Hockney is flat, two-dimensional, brilliantly lighted and engaging to the eye, but ultimately intellectual.



In this production of the Zauberflöte or “Flute,” HGO has cast primarily members of its Houston Opera Studio and alumni of that institution. The conductor and stage director are likewise youthful. This could result in a production of rare energy, commitment and fresh insights. But Conductor Steven Sloane takes the score at such a breathless pace that the performance descends into athleticism. He lurches, descends and plunges at his players in the orchestra pit. This is something that pretends to be new because it assumes to be so different, but it ultimately misses the beat.

Tempos are taken at such a pace that singers cannot finish their final notes. We do not hear the true Mozart style; phrases are not finished but clipped at the ends. The choruses are likewise compromised, they are wonderful but do not rise to the majestic heights they deserve.

Some singers manage to override the tendency to beat the clock. Baritone Patrick Carfizzi has a stage presence and easy movements on the stage. His Papageno was winning in movements and sung with great style. Similarly, Eric Cutler as Tamino sang with a large lyric voice with volume and a long line to the voice. Rebekah Camm as Pamina has a beautiful voice and sang with emotion, yet something of the mark was missed here. Raymond Aceto as the Sarastro was a weak-sounding basso profundo. Sarastro must introduce the transformational moments of this score as the master, and he could not sound the call.

With Albina Shagimuratova, another Houston Opera Studio alumna, as the Queen of the Night, it was no contest. She was note perfect in her arias and music but given the tempos, she had no chance to lavish it or make her music memorable. Yet, her stage presence was magisterial and very precise.

Another miscue was in the casting of the boys’ chorus. This is some of the most ephemeral singing for children in Western music. One thinks that here the comparable examples are Fauré’s Requiem or Mahler’s 8th Symphony. Mozart scored this for three voices in the high ranges, so it can be given to boy sopranos or women with mature voices. Houston decided to give it to teen-age sopranos, and that was a big mistake. The female singers were from two performing arts high schools, but they stood around on the stage looking aimlessly. No problem with the singing, which was beautiful. They simply sounded beautiful and appeared lost.

Mozart wanted boys to sing this part, and he expected them to act like boys even if they were goofy. (The sung text on opening night in Houston switched from first calling the children’s chorus “Mädchen” and then later calling them “Knaben,” as Mozart intended). Mozart did not care how exactly the children’s chorus sang, he simply wished it be in the spirit of his work. He wished it to be heard from the mouths of babes.


That is what we missed at Houston in this performance.



Gary N. Reese

 

 

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