BY ALISON PARIS
The Magic Flute
Brisbane City Opera, directed by Chris Clement McNee
The Sideshow, West End, 29 September 2018
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, or The Magic Flute, is one of Mozart’s most famous and most popular operas. Many casual opera fans would be familiar with the famous Queen of the Night aria, or Papageno and Papagena’s Pa-pa-pa duet. Needless to say, its music holds up as fun, emotional, and accessible.
With that in mind, Brisbane City Opera’s production, directed by Chris Clement McNee, was something I was looking forward to seeing since its first promotion. With a cast made up of young and talented opera singers, I knew to expect a high standard in terms of vocal skill. The three leading characters, played by Tom Holownia, Kathryn O’Halloran, and Joshua White as Tamino, Pamina, and Papageno, respectively, brought to the performance not only beautiful singing, but noteworthy charisma and chemistry.
My expectations were met in terms of the quality of the cast and orchestra, but I was caught completely off-guard by this quirky performance. What I had thought I was going to attend was a fairly modernised but ultimately conventional opera.
BCO’s The Magic Flute was far from this.
It was an incredibly original and hilarious take on the classic story, with great singing and stage presence from every cast member. They chose to replace much of the German dialogue from the original opera with English narration by McNee, who provided most of the jokes. This, combined with the casual setting, made the whole show feel like a Vaudeville show. The relaxed atmosphere of The Sideshow added so much to their creative choices, even giving more material for jokes and fourth wall breaks, replacing Sarastro’s priesthood with veganism and his temple with the hipster-esque West End bar itself.
Canadian soprano Rachel Pines excelled as the Queen of the Night, her experience with the role shining through as she sang both arias with energy and presence. Her second aria was especially excellent, surpassing the first with more precision through the coloratura runs.
Joshua Ruben also impressed as Sarastro, his resonant low F2 provoking absolute stillness from the audience. The queen’s three ladies’ voices were also independently strong, but even more so as a trio. German language could have been clearer with more attention, particularly for the three ladies and Pamina, but was generally quite good.
The Cadenza Chamber Players conducted by Lucas D. Lynch were consistent, and their size suited the atmosphere of the venue. Their rendition of the opera’s overture was coherent, and for much of the first act, this standard was maintained. Despite some tuning issues in the second act for pieces such as Pamina’s aria, they still brought a high standard of musicality to the performance as a whole.
The characters were given a creative and modern twist, as were the more fantastical plot points. As well as making the most of the venue, this made the production extremely accessible to opera newcomers.
With the warm and casual atmosphere, dry humour, and charismatic cast, BCO’s The Magic Flute was a truly entertaining and original production that I enjoyed thoroughly.
Images supplied. Credit: Bridget O’Brien.
