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Abduction Delights Festival Audience Philadelphia
McCarter’s Berlind Theatre, Princeton
07/13/2009 - & July 16, 19, 24
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Jennifer Rowley (Konstanze), Scott Ramsay (Belmonte), Rachele Gilmore (Blonde), Aaron Pegram (Pedrillo), Mathew Lau (Osmin), Ray Menard (Pasha Selim)
New Jersey Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Mark Flint (conductor)
Bernard Uzan (stage director), Robert Little (set designer), Patricia A. Hibbert (costume designer), Ken Yunker (lighting design) 
J. Rowley (© Jeff Reeder)
After stumbling in its season-opening Lucia di Lammermoor, Opera New Jersey finds its form in a buoyantly paced, well sung and entertaining production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Credit a talented cast. But don’t forget the conductor or the stage director. Mark Flint shapes a strong performance that catches both the humor and the pathos in Mozart‘s music. From the New Jersey Symphony Chamber Orchestra, he summons disciplined playing filled with spirited energy. He crafts a beautiful performance of the quartet that caps the second act. On stage, director Bernard Uzan ties together the four dramatic strands as neatly as the conductor shapes the music.
Guided deftly by Uzan, this Entführung unfolds seamlessly in a succession of entertaining scenes. The stage director never indulges in slapstick or pointless sight gags. He exploits the humor in the libretto and lets the comedy emerge in a natural, unforced way. Mozart’s Singspiel alternates between spoken dialogue and a succession of arias, duets and ensembles. The singers deliver the recitatives in English but sing the arias in German. It works. Coached by Matthew Gurewitsch, the cast members savor and point up the English words.
In his program note, Uzan says his goal was to “provide amusement” rather than plumb the drama for “a strong message.” Against the backdrop of a Turkish pasha’s court and harem – aptly suggested by Robert Little’s spare sets and Patricia A. Hibbert’s attractive costumes - two cultures clash in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. A Spanish nobleman confronts the Pasha as he tries to free his fiancée and their servants who were sold into slavery by pirates. Uzan does not play up this cultural collision. Instead, he allows the humor to arise out of the situations and the contrasting characters.
Scott Ramsay (Belmonte) and Jennifer Rowley (Konstanze) head the cast as the noble lovers. Ramsay’s tenor may have no special luster, but he sings Belmonte’s arias stylishly and elegantly. Rowley confronts the superhuman demands of Konztanze’s challenging music with aplomb. She fashions a stream of affecting sound in the long lyrical lines of “Traurigkeit” and then negotiates the vocal fireworks in “Martern aller Arten” with a blend of passion and discipline.
As the two servants, Aaron Pegram (Pedrillo) and Rachele Gilmore (Blonde) sing gracefully and act with assurance. Mathew Lau charms the audience with his deftly timed portrayal of Osmin, the gruff overseer of the Pasha’s palace. Vocally, Lau lacks the ultimate in tonal weight and scale but that hardly matters in the intimate Berlind Theatre. Ray Menard delivers the Pasha’s pronouncements without exaggeration and proves affecting when he magnanimously releases his captives.
Robert Baxter
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