Barrie Kosky’s magic take on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which has been circling the globe for nearly a decade and seen by 700,000 people, landed on the Lyric Opera Stage this week.
Concocted by original codirectors Kosky and Suzanne Andrade for Komische Oper Berlin, it’s magic in the most literal sense—a visual sleight of hand that melds live performance with animation. The concept: to present the 18th-century fantasy opera as if it were an early 20th-century silent film.
Since opera is, above all else, an aural experience, this is a notably perverse idea.
It’s also a must-see novelty, even coming, as it is, after more than a year and a half of conducting our own lives on the flat screens of our phones and computers.
The animation, by Paul Barritt (Andrade’s co-artistic director at the London theater company 1927), is continuously engaging, full of wry surprises that amplify and comment on the story of Prince Tamino (tenor Pavel Petrov) and his sidekick, the bird-catcher Papageno (baritone Huw Montague Rendall), as they endure a series of trials in order to gain enlightenment and rescue a princess.
And the painstaking integration of live performers with Barritt’s cartoon world is a choreographic wonder: the singers kick aside inky attacking spiders, hover in the night sky on sketchy wings, and clutch the leashes of straining animated devil dogs. In a poignant moment for an audience sitting behind several thousand masks, Papageno’s chattering mouth literally flies away from him.
The Magic Flute
Through 11/27: Sun 11/7 and 11/14, 2 PM, Thu 11/11, 2 PM, Wed 11/17, 2 PM, Fri 11/19, 7 PM, Sat 11/27, 7:30 PM; Lyric Opera, 20 N. Wacker, 312-827-5600, lyricopera.org, $39-$319. In German with English subtitles.
There is sound, of course, but—the creators’ stated intentions notwithstanding—it’s secondary to the visual effects. Lyric’s youthful cast is trapped by the concept, which dictates every melodramatic move and pins them to precise, often awkward positions on stage. This is especially the fate of the traditionally mighty Queen of the Night (soprano Lila Dufy). Here, she’s a spider dwarfed by her own towering legs and stranded atop them—a tiny, singing head in a cocoon-like body perched high above the action. Awkward or distant positioning may or may not also be the reason that, on opening night at least, Tamino and others sounded underpowered, especially in the early scenes.
In service to the concept, Montague Rendall’s Papageno channels silent film star Buster Keaton, and tenor Brenton Ryan plays villainous Monostatos as the uber-creepy vampire, Nosferatu. The standout vocal performance, however, is delivered by soprano Ying Fang, who adheres perfectly to the dramatic conceit but manages to let the music break free—her brilliant voice sailing over the audience, raising the stakes from novelty and amusement to emotional impact.
Mozart incorporated spoken dialogue in The Magic Flute; in this production, no one talks: the dialogue has been replaced by projected English text like that used in silent film, backed by “musical interludes” lifted (horrors!) from other Mozart pieces. Guest conductor Karen Kamensek leads the always-able Lyric Opera orchestra and chorus; principal flautist Marie Tachouet plays the charming flute solos, with Dionne Jackson soloing on the panpipes.