The first time we see the Queen of the Night in Arizona Opera’s “The Magic Flute,” she is perched above the stage, astride a camel with angelic wings.
The beast, hanging from ropes, lands with a quiet wooden thump on a set minimally dressed to resemble a multilayered mesa that occupied almost every inch of the Tucson Music Hall stage.
It is one of many subtle effects stage director/set designer Thaddeus Strassberger created to bring Mozart’s masterpiece of comedy and fantasy into the 21st century.
Other touches included puppeteers marching with animal masks on sticks to represent the beasts Papageno (Joshua Hopkins making his Arizona debut) encounters on his journey to collect birds for the Queen of the Night (soprano Heather Buck); and six actors sharing the colorful costume of the serpent chasing Tamino until he fainted in a lump.
People are also reading…
Strassberger crafted “The Magic Flute” with pointed local references — when he encounters Tamino (Scott Ramsay), Papageno tells him he has no idea where he is: “All the Downtown exits are closed.” They also peppered it with cultural one-liners good for a belly laugh, including Tamino asking Pamina (wonderfully sung by soprano Hanan Alattar) “Can you hear me now?” as the pair communicated with tin cans at the end of a long rope.
There also was the subtly sexual overture when the three ladies (Chloé Moore, Kirsten Gunlogson and Olga Perez wonderfully cast in the roles) who rescue Tamino from the serpent compete to flirt with the young prince. It was a romp.
Strassberger’s “The Magic Flute” wrings every ounce of humor from Mozart’s intention while never forgetting that the storyline revolves around the battle of good versus evil and the ideal that enlightenment brings internal peace.
Mozart wrote “The Magic Flute” in 1791, the final year of his life. He envisioned it as light, funny entertainment for the masses, not just the privileged of the day. That is how Strassberger presents it, full of rich humor and all-too-human gestures and foibles that we can relate to.
As a whole, “The Magic Flute,” absent from Arizona Opera’s repertoire for a dozen years, was a delightful evening of theater supported by a rich orchestral reading of Mozart’s wonderful score.
Conductor Joel Revzen took Mozart at his literal word, adopting a tempo that enhanced the comedy but never lost sight of the fact that the music was some of Mozart’s finest ever. The orchestra’s performance of the Overture was sublime and fluid, with such detail and crispness you wished they would have performed it again as an encore.
The cast for Saturday’s performance included the return of the very funny and talented tenor Jason Ferrante as the striped beast Monostatos and the debut of Alattar, who showed off some enviable acting and vocal chops.
Buck exhibited a lush coloratura that induced goosebumps in both her showcase arias; and bass Gustav Andreassen, another Arizona Opera regular, had a mostly warm tone, although there were times when he couldn’t quite project at the lowest register.
“The Magic Flute” moves to Phoenix for four performances this week.
Review
Arizona Opera’s “The Magic Flute” Saturday at Tucson Music Hall. Performance repeats at 2 p.m. today. It moves to Phoenix’s Symphony Hall Thursday-March 9.
Performances there are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. March 9.
Tickets: $31-$144 through Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com.
As water lifeline evaporates, Arizona faces a cultural change over water use
