Julie Taymor’s enchanting, puppet-filled staging of Mozart’s fairytale opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) first came to the Metropolitan Opera in 2004 as a full-length production, sung in German. The 110-minute family-friendly version, performed in a snappy, colloquial English adaptation by the American poet JD McClatchy, premiered in December 2006 and has returned to the Met every season since to become a holiday staple at Lincoln Center. Performed by a superb cast, the whimsical production looks and sounds as fine as ever.
There are many familiar faces on the stage and they give an extra dose of magic to Mozart and Schikaneder’s Singspiel, a tale about a prince on a quest to rescue the woman of his dreams. With splendid singing by a first-rate group of mostly youthful performers, and a plot that successfully straddles slapstick and mysticism, the show is donned with a string of delights. Well-known names returning to the magical production were conductor Patrick Furrer, sopranos Janai Brugger and Kathryn Lewek, tenor Brenton Ryan, bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi, and tenor Rolando Villazón.
Villazón all but stole the show in a standout performance as Papageno. Though classified as a baritone role, the part of the hapless bird catcher is an anomaly in the world of opera. The character’s music is rhythmic but simple and occupies the middle of the male vocal range. The notes posed no problem for Villazón. With his vocal lines intoned in quasi-parlando style, his voice was the perfect fit. Well-known for his sheer abandon on stage and his finely detailed characterizations, Villazón brought perfect comic timing to his gestures and English-language dialogue, adding some seemingly spontaneous, but always humorous expressions in other languages.
The other standout in the cast was Kathryn Lewek in her fifth Met season as The Queen of the Night. Possibly the best of contemporary sopranos in this role, she dazzled. Without a hint of constraint in the high registers, she dispatched her demanding arias, “O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn” (Oh do not tremble, my dear son!) and “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” (The revenge of hell boils in my heart) with tremendous power, fine articulation and vocal excitement. In this abridged version, her part is more prominent than usual. Flapping enormous moth-like wings while effortlessly executing fearsome runs and leaps to high F, she brought indispensable drama and intensity to the role.
In a Met role debut, Piotr Buszewski provided an ardent and super energetic portrayal of Tamino. Somewhat unsteady as he forced his lyric tenor excessively in his Act 1 aria “Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön” (This picture is enchantingly beautiful), he settled down in Act 2 and displayed a delightfully delicate sound when paired with Janai Brugger, splendidly reprising her 2016 Met turn as Pamina. Her Act 2 aria, “Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden” (Ah, I feel it, it is vanished), was lovely – plangent, effortlessly delivered and smoothly resonant.
In another role reprisal, Brenton Ryan, outlandishly costumed in batwings, fake bulging flesh and ankle-strap pumps, was hilarious as Monostatos, who tries to seduce Pamina. As Sarastro, Brindley Sherratt offered an appropriately stately portrayal of the High Priest, his bass sounding beautifully dark and deep. In the brief role of the Speaker, Patrick Carfizzi was commanding as he addressed Tamino outside the temple.
Furrer, conducting a condensed version of the score that deletes the entire overture and several numbers, elicited an elegant, highly spirited performance from the Met orchestra and chorus. Julie Taymor’s fanciful puppets and colorful, extravagant costumes, along with George Tsypin’s luxuriously imaginative set designs, continue to provide stage images to astonish and savor in a Magic Flute that only glitters more with age.
