Magical flute triumphs on silver screen
OVER the course of the past 224 years, more people have probably seen The Magic Flute than any other opera. But very few of them will ever have seen a spectacle quite like this. Effectively closing Edinburgh’s International Festival programme, this production of Mozart’s last operatic masterpiece (he was dead barely two months after the premiere in Vienna on September 29, 1791) was created by Komische Oper Berlin artistic supremo Barrie Kosky in collaboration with English animation theatre company 1927.
It is a visual feast, a delight for the eyes (which is not to f orget the ears). Leaving behind the usual grand opera set on a vast stage, it is essentially a movie show, a silent movie show (except, of course, for the music). The backdrop is a simple silver screen, onto which is projected a dizzying, dazzling array of cinematic i mages i nspired by silent movies.
This Magic Flute, though, is very much more than a movie – and certainly not silent. The vast screen, seemingly only a few feet back from the front of the stage, is peppered with revolving doors, whence singers appear and disappear.
The characters of the opera are the same – but here they must share the screen with all manner of cinematic figures; bleeding hearts, pink ele - phants, bloody flying daggers, disembodied mouths, sweetsmelling flowers, mischievous monkeys.
Imagine how hard it must be to sing opera anyway – then factor in the added difficulty of interacting with an everchanging screen – sometimes high above the stage. The cast coped admirably.
Many of their characters seemed to be based on identifiable stars from the 1920s; Buster Keaton, Louise Brooks, Elsa Lanchester – there was even a little touch of Nosferatu in the night.
Dominik Koninger’s portrayal of Papageno the bird catcher was a delight. Desperate for love himself, he was nonetheless pivotal in bringing the two romantic leads, Tamino and Pamina, together.
Altogether resplendent in a mustard suit and hat (never an easy look) he was Buster Keaton incarnate.
After draining a giant pink cocktail, he embarked upon a wonderfully inebriated journey across the stage on the back of an equally pink elephant. That sequence was worth the price of the ticket alone.
The Queen of the Night is always an imposing figure – but she is seldom portrayed as a giant spider hurling venom and blades with equal dexterity.
Olga Pudova, looking as much the Bride of Frankenstein as Miss Lanchester ever did, relished her two great arias, one in each Act. In one of the most problematic roles in the entire operatic canon for modern singers, she was approaching the summit in Act One. In Act Two, she absolutely nailed it and planted the flag.
The mountaineering analogy, by the way, is not inappropriate. Miss Pudova, as the head of a giant spider, was singing about 30ft up from stage level.
Allan Clayton’s Tamino was resolute and stout-hearted in his quest for true love, seemingly thwarted at every turn. But i t was that true l ove, Pamina, who was the bright shining star in what was anyway a truly stellar show.
American soprano Maureen McKay – or, should I say, the coquettish Miss B – sang with such purity that even the forces of evil seemed stopped in their tracks. Amid all her trials and tribulations, with both humans and cartoons, her phrasing, her timing, her cadences were perfect. It was a performance of rare beauty.
Amid all t his animated action, what should not be forgotten is the music – and the Orchestra of the Komische Oper, under the assured, yet perky baton of Kristina Poska, rose to the occasion splendidly.
This triple fusion of voice, music and cinema worked so wonderfully well that it seems almost invidious to focus on any one element. Nonetheless, Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt of 1927 must be singled out for their mind-blowing contribution. Wonderful as the playing and singing were, the really, truly Magic element of this Flute came from the amazing animation.
This was an operatic sensation the likes of which I do not expect often to see again any time soon. The International Festival could not have ended on a better note.