A new production of “Magic Flute” at Santa Fe Opera places the Mozart work, often considered the most accessible and child-friendly opera, into the world of British pantomime. Director Christopher Luscombe, Scenic Designer Simon Higlett and costume designer Robert Perdziola have created a delightfully colorful and, more importantly, quickly-paced entertainment that offers a fresh and joyful interpretation of the 1791 comic classic. Presenting the opera in English made it all the more enjoyable.
Pantomime, for the non-British, is a centuries-old form of popular entertainment in the lineage of the Italian commedia d’el arte., German singspiel, and Grimm-style fairy tales. Characters are archetypes–the villain, the ingénue, the clown, the clever servant. In “Magic Flute,” Mozart created Papageno, the comic, bird-hunting servant, played hilariously by baritone Will Liverman. Other “types” include Tamino, the hero on a quest, sung by the tenor Josh Lovell with a clear and lovely tone throughout. Pamina is the endangered ingénue (Joélle Harvey–in a sympathetic, beautifully sung and acted performance) who gives the story emotional weight. The Queen of the Night (Jeni Houser, with the famous coloratura arias) is supposed to be the villainess, but never quite manages to seem evil. Sarastro (Alexander Köpeczi) is the father/priest figure. Monostatos ( Spencer Hamlin) is the comic villain.
The new production looks stunning, inviting the audience into a Maxfield Parrish-colored world. The set is a cross between a children’s book illustration and a Victorian music hall. There are velvet curtains, lushly-painted scenic flats, working foot lights, a prompter’s hood and built-in parterre boxes. Costumes, by Robert Perdziolah, feature period-appropriate outfits for the main characters, fabulous Egyptian uniforms for the chorus in Act II, and a series of animals who join the action without need for explanation–an ostrich, a lion with a fez, a bear riding a bicycle, a red-coated rabbit (escaped from Alice in Wonderland?) and a seal (whoever the chorus person assigned to slither around the stage on all fours is, they should get a bump in pay).
Mozart operas can seem interminable, and their serpentine plots often confound modern minds trained to understand the world via Instagram videos, their attention spans honed by 30-minute TV shows broken up by commercials. The director of Santa Fe’s “Magic Flute” clearly understands this. Luscombe adds just enough comic shtick and a lightning-fast pacing to leave practically no room for boredom. With some of the most beautiful music ever composed, this is an evening designed to delight regular opera goers and seduce new ones.
