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(I hand-wrote this entry like a month ago and just hadn't typed it up yet.)
I expected to be a lot more impressed by The Magic Flute than I was. Part of the issue, for me, may have been the staging of the production we saw: it was staged as a play-within-a-play, as if a group of guests at a 1790's garden party decided to put on a play to entertain themselves. Not having seen the opera before, I thought this was part of the original concept and I got confused about when we'd find out the real story behind the girl playing Pamina. Then, in Act II, "as the drama unfolds, the actors leave the theatre behind and continue to enact their story in an elaborate labyrinth that covers the grounds of the estate" where "all distinctions between fantasy and reality fade away" (from the Program Notes). OK, if you're going to insert a conceit into a Mozart opera, at least carry it through in a way that makes sense. It was like it was a play-within-a-play in the first act and then not at all in the second act. The program goes on to talk about the Enlightenment and Masonry symbolism. I just didn't get it. Maybe the opera company assumed that everyone's already seen this opera? I don't know. I think I would have had a better, less confusing experience of the opera if I had seen a more traditional staging.
Once I got past my confusion, I did enjoy the basic opera itself. The cast was excellent, and the sets and costumes were beautiful. I found the story to be both odd and fascinating, and I kept wondering where Mozart came up with this stuff. (By taking symbolism from the Enlightenment and the Masons, apparently.) I wish the Program Notes had included more about the opera itself rather than emphasizing its esoteric themes: I realize that this is one of Mozart's most famous and most beloved operas, but I was seeing it for the first time! I kept wondering about the story: why did Tamino's objectives change so drastically when he came to Sarastro's temple? Why was the Queen of the Night evil, and even if she was, how does that justify Sarastro stealing her daughter? We start out thinking Sarastro is evil, and then it turns out he's the good guy, but I didn't feel like there was any reason for him to be the good guy or any plot to back this up other than that he said he was. I felt like I had a lot of unanswered questions. It made me kind of mad, both at Mozart and at the Philly opera company. Not my favorite.
I expected to be a lot more impressed by The Magic Flute than I was. Part of the issue, for me, may have been the staging of the production we saw: it was staged as a play-within-a-play, as if a group of guests at a 1790's garden party decided to put on a play to entertain themselves. Not having seen the opera before, I thought this was part of the original concept and I got confused about when we'd find out the real story behind the girl playing Pamina. Then, in Act II, "as the drama unfolds, the actors leave the theatre behind and continue to enact their story in an elaborate labyrinth that covers the grounds of the estate" where "all distinctions between fantasy and reality fade away" (from the Program Notes). OK, if you're going to insert a conceit into a Mozart opera, at least carry it through in a way that makes sense. It was like it was a play-within-a-play in the first act and then not at all in the second act. The program goes on to talk about the Enlightenment and Masonry symbolism. I just didn't get it. Maybe the opera company assumed that everyone's already seen this opera? I don't know. I think I would have had a better, less confusing experience of the opera if I had seen a more traditional staging.
Once I got past my confusion, I did enjoy the basic opera itself. The cast was excellent, and the sets and costumes were beautiful. I found the story to be both odd and fascinating, and I kept wondering where Mozart came up with this stuff. (By taking symbolism from the Enlightenment and the Masons, apparently.) I wish the Program Notes had included more about the opera itself rather than emphasizing its esoteric themes: I realize that this is one of Mozart's most famous and most beloved operas, but I was seeing it for the first time! I kept wondering about the story: why did Tamino's objectives change so drastically when he came to Sarastro's temple? Why was the Queen of the Night evil, and even if she was, how does that justify Sarastro stealing her daughter? We start out thinking Sarastro is evil, and then it turns out he's the good guy, but I didn't feel like there was any reason for him to be the good guy or any plot to back this up other than that he said he was. I felt like I had a lot of unanswered questions. It made me kind of mad, both at Mozart and at the Philly opera company. Not my favorite.
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Date: 2013-06-18 05:03 pm (UTC)From:I saw a Pirates of Penzance last time I was in London where the daughters all wore mountain-climbing gear and Sir Joseph and company turned up in scuba outfits--now THAT's a fresh spin carried through! :-)