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| My View |
Elizabeth – Julie Taymor’s adapted Magic Flute for families (running at 1 hour 40 minutes) intrigued me, and clearly others as I discovered when we tried to buy tickets. For the remaining shows the only seats we could find were individual and on different levels, but we decided to go for it. I couldn’t see very much in my partial view grand tier seats, which was really disappointing as I was expecting to see the show. At least partially. When they say partial view they really mean little to no view. The poor tourists sitting next to me were so confused and kept moving their chairs around, convinced that the Met wouldn’t sell tickets for seats where you couldn’t see the show. After much moving and talking between them, I finally turned to the older Russian couple and politely informed them they purchased partial view seats, it said so on their tickets and they were not going to be able to see the entire stage. They pulled out their tickets and confirmed. This settled them down, but to be honest, I think it’s practically criminal to charge $116.50 for this:
So the show. From what I could see, it was visually terrific. Julie Taymor’s production uses giant kite-like puppet animals and people dressed up as animals, reminiscent of her production of The Lion King. They were gorgeous additions to the opera—unusual to see at the Met and I hope to see more of that. Children and adults alike were enraptured with the creatures Taymor created. George Tsypin’s sets seemed to have been adapted and were more Broadway to me (lots of lights and piped in sound effects), but if the goal of the production is to introduce opera to children and non-opera goers then I think it’s doing a great job.
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| NOT John Moore |
Matthew Plenk was a handsome and winsome Tamino, but John Moore’s green and goofy Papageno stole the show with his magic bells, aw shucks demeanor and bird costume. I’m looking forward to seeing him in Billy Budd this February. Eric Owens’ entrance as Sarastro with giant glass lions was perfectly regal and he sounded amazing. Mary Dunleavy was gorgeous as Pamina, such a lovely light sparkling soprano. And Kathryn Lewek’ s Met debut as Queen of the Night was impressive; the audience was smitten with her. The opera was very abbreviated, however and so the storyline didn’t always make sense to me. But that could also be due to a lack of visual cues on my end. There also wasn’t much singing in this production. Sort of felt at times like a “Best of Magic Flute” or “Magic Flute’s Greatest Hits”. That said, Jane Glover’s conducting was very good. There were points that I thought I heard her use the orchestra to help cover some weaker points in the singing, and she kept the story moving along briskly for the young audience.
I didn’t realize the opera had been turned into English until they started singing. I must confess I didn’t like it at first, but as I watched the audience (I had a terrific view of them, by the way) I could tell it was a hit. The Met was packed and many small children were there, too young to read, and moving the piece into English was clearly a necessity.
Speaking of children, the children in the production were gorgeous. I absolutely LOVED the harmony of the three spirits, and it was a big plus that they were often airborne as I could then see them. Kudos to Thatcher Pitkoff, Seth Ewing-Crystal and Andre Gulick. It’s not easy being a tween/teen, covered in white body paint and wearing a diaper while harmonizing in front of several thousand people.
And I cannot believe I’m saying this, but it must be said: even though the opera was only one hour and forty minutes, it seemed like it went on forever. And I wasn’t alone. The two girls in front of me turned to each other after Papageno walked offstage with Papagena and said “There’s STILL more?!?!” (see the head in above photo). A couple in the box to my left asked if it was over even before the Papageno thing. I can’t blame them. I checked the time three times during the show.I blame the choppy editing of the show. I hope I can see it again, and this time actually see it. The only part of the show I think I saw and everyone else missed was a giant chunk of the side curtains fell at the end of the show, nearly taking out several choristers. Thankfully disaster was averted as their hard costumes took the bulk of the hit.
In terms of gearing opera to new comers and children the production is a huge success. As I said earlier tickets are nearly impossible to come by and the enthusiasm of the audience was exciting and wonderful. Even if the applause was often “inappropriately” timed, causing the conductor to pause the action, it was indicative of the audience’s enthusiasm. Julie Taymor’s production had them hooked from beginning to end.
Additionally to this end, the Illustrated Synopsis in the playbill is great. With numbers throughout the synopsis corresponding to photos from the production so the kids (and their adults) can follow along. I could have used this picture book synopsis style in several productions I’ve seen recently.
Taymor has succeeded in creating several visually arresting moments. The Queen of the Night’s entrance with her dress writhing around her as if alive, Sarastro’s entrance atop two crystal lions and most spectacular to my mind the first appearance of the 3 Spirits flying in on the back of a giant bird. I have never seen The Lion King so the whole giant puppets on sticks thing is new to me.
I thought it was to be Nathan Gunn as Papagano but in looking we somehow got one of two performances without Nathan Gunn and instead John Moore. But Moore did well vocally and even managed to wring some real laughs out of the sometimes disjointed dialogue.
In her Met debut as The Queen of the Night, Kathryn Lewek, a double prize winner in the 2013 Operalia competition, was predictably wildly received by the audience though I found her sound to be slight. But I have been listening to a lot of Diana Damrau in the last few years. And she casts a long, well, shadow.
Matthew Plenk was a fine and engaging enough Tamino. Wendy Bryn Harmer stood our as the floating headed First Lady and John Easterlin was greatly received as a genital exposing birdmanned Monostatos.
And, of course, the great and powerful, though highly abridged, Eric Owens was excellent.
Of note, 6 of the principals are graduates of the Lindemann Young Artist’s program. The most I have seen in one production I am quite sure.
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| Jane Glover |
I know this is anathema to many, but the idea of abridging and shortening operas is most likely a key component to opera growing its fan base and moving into the future. Many, many small companies offer abridged versions but the larger houses may find they must as well to give an entry point for newcomers and to grow their base for the future. Not in lieu of full productions but in addition to. Perhaps even offering full AND abridged versions of operas in the same season so those that are snared by the shortened version can go and check out the full.
Jane Glover is the first female conductor I have even seen at the Met. This is not surprising as she is only the third woman to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera. Ever. She was great, though I do wonder if criticism will be levied against the Met that they gave her “only” the abridged Magic Flute for children. Regardless, I hope her presence in the pit only bodes well for the future of female conductors at the Met.
– Elizabeth Frayer and Shawn E Milnes
Related Links:
The Merry Wives of Desilu: Falstaff at the Metropolitan Opera
The Dmitri Hvorostovsky Cyber Medieval Post Apocalyptic BDSM Music Video
Mirrored Cubes and Dancing Periods: Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera
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