The Met’s production of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ receives mixed reviews for modern interpretation

Photos: Metopera

NEW YORK – VIENNA / The Met in the Village Cinema Wien Mitte:
THE MAGIC FLUTE by WA Mozart
3. June 2023

The Metropolitan Opera always gives the directors ample space to explain their concepts in its worldwide broadcasts in cinemas. So you could hear what the British director Simon McBurney (who is also on the road in theaters and films) came up with Mozart’s “Magic Flute”. What he was raving about Schikaneder, the Theater an der Wien, 1791 and others, apparently superficially read together from the Internet, had next to nothing to do with Mozart.

Like many directors who basically didn’t understand anything about the works, he did what he thought of. And that had a lot of success in New York with the press and the public, to be honest. As a Viennese, who knows the “Magic Flute” inside and out (every word and every note, so to speak), you could only marvel at what didn’t exist. And what you got instead.

Three ladies in a military look who pounce on Tamino in an almost sexually harassing manner and take off his shoes, jacket and pants (loot that they delight in). How you could justify a directing idea to let the poor prince act in white underwear for the longest time – no idea. No man would look good in it, the result was embarrassing.

It’s good that the Queen of the Night has been disempowered, but with Mozart still “star-flaming” – here you get a rabid old woman in a wheelchair. And the three boys, yes, they have mutated into ancient men, white-haired, rickety, with sticks. So you could retell step by step everything strange that is happening – Pamina photos on the smartphone, no Isis and Osiris, but Sarastro with his men at the conference table with microphones, a Papageno whose only characteristic is that he always carries a ladder with him have to drag…

The fact that all of this is meant to be “modern” and far removed from the original is reinforced by two alienation effects that are meant to be playful and charming, but can also seem downright stupid. That on the side of the stage, behind a “bar” with many set pieces, Ruth Sullivan that makes noise (birds flapping with work gloves) is one. That on the other side Blake Haberman can be admired as he describes the back video wall with a couple of shadow puppets and a chalk board (it says something enlightened like “Act 1” or “Fire”), is the second.

This was hailed as a great idea, as was the fact that Tamino does not pretend to play his flute himself, but to the flutist Seth Morris passed on. And that Papageno gave his “Glockenspiel” (in a kind of accordion box) to the pianist Bryan Wagorn left, further pointed out that the aim here is not to realize the “Magic Flute”, but to isolate a few ideas about it that cry out to be admired as original. Which also includes raising the orchestra to allow the performers to play in it over and over again, as well as excursions into the auditorium (Papageno pushed his way through a row of seats – which, to be honest, has happened before…).

The stage (Michael Levine) didn’t create any kind of world that costumes (Nicky Gillibrand). ideas that by no means formed into the “Magic Flute”.

That the evening ended well, long on the musical side. conductor Nathalie Stutzmann (she had to humbly apologize to the orchestra on strict orders from director Peter Gelb because she had once said that the gentlemen shouldn’t look so bored) was more relaxed here than with her rather tense “Don Giovanni” and spread the mood with the music, who barely got off the stage.

And Erin Morley, who one got to know as a coloratura soprano and who wonderfully developed into a lyrical soprano, was a very contemporary Pamina (not a dear, confused princess), but vocally absolutely wonderful, a slim and yet powerful soprano with the right Mozart cantilena. And impeccable German, which can be said of almost all singers (except for the Dutch Papageno, who is all American). The Met must have invested a lot in language coaches so that German never turned into gibberish (not even in the spoken passages) – you don’t hear it more clearly with native speakers in this country either.

Just as ideal Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino (after the underwear he was given a Che Guevara outfit before having to wear a white shirt for the rest of the opera). Visually he is not the ideal of a prince, but vocally very well, a pleasant, technically sophisticated, expressive tenor.

There was not a hint of real bird catcher or even Viennese (no, it doesn’t have to be in New York). Thomas Oliemans (who also seemed a bit old for the role), but he developed his own sense of humor (although not “shish”), ending up on his Papagena (Ashley Emerson). however short the roll may be, was put in the pocket.

Bid as a grey-haired, physically frail but brimming with evil energy, a wrecked queen Kathryn Lewek not exactly culinary, but perfect and covering for their role interpretation coloratura. In the end, she doesn’t have to disappear as defeated, but is to a certain extent lifted up by Sarastro and included in the general reconciliation – certainly one of the few beautiful ideas of this performance.

With the usual Sarastro dignity Stephen Millings on the way, and when hyperactive Monostatos (here not a black man like in Mozart, but a white villain) fell Brenton Ryan on. There were also three hectic ladies (Alexandria Shiner, Olivia Vote and Tamara Mumford ) and three senile not-boys (which was hailed as a genius idea in a review…)

Nobody says that a “Magic Flute” should always look the same, for God’s sake. But the production could have been a little closer to the piece or more consistent in itself. As I said, the audience in New York was very impressed, and in Vienna, too, the cinemas were pretty full.

Renate Wagner