Mozart's comic/masonic opera is a tortuous and strange little story beefed up into a truly memorable opera,let me say up front I Iove it ...
WNO is a very strong company which I have seen and enjoyed on numerous occasions so I was delighted when they booked this production into the Bristol Hippodrome ... Peter Wedd's Tamino was suitably leading man despite a real frog in the throat moment on the night we saw which involved total loss of voice control even after the magical glass of water from the wings ;-) Elizabeth Watts has a beautiful voice and gave us a very credible Pamina. In this opera, perhpas particularly this production, the cast are called upon to ACT as well as sing, something not all opera 'stars' can do comfortably ... no problems with this cast though - it was carried off beautifully.
Neal Davies Papageno was so strong it stole the stage, no bad thing for this lovable rogue and he got a delightful Paspagena in Claire Hampton who seemed to really enjoy her "old woman" acting! Pure panto really but plenty of energy to keep the show rolling along.
The boys and maids were excellent, as were the principles from The Brotherhood ... especially Howard Kirk's Les Dawson style Monostatos .. i also enjoyed the animals of the forest ... so very sophisticated! Whilst Tim Mirfin's Sorastro was, at times,hard to follow (the curse of the bass) he was suitably superior in the role and Laure Meloy had a lovely voice and delivery for The Queen of the Night but, for me, needed more visual impact - perhaps plasterer's stilts to give her height and 'swoosh'?!
Whilst there are some truly magical set pieces in this, and it is a very enjoyable (and visually exciting) evening, I did feel that it just missed the target in a few areas - mostly, for me,the discipline of The Brotherhood. Those set piece moments, particularly lifting and replacing the floor tiles, should be ones of complete synchronisation - there were flashes when everything happened together but mostly it lost its power through simple messiness, it had me thinking of Dad's Army, why didn't they just do it to "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1"? I also felt that the Queen of the Night's entrances lacked impact - not the actresses fault, just a lack of oomph somewhere - a criticism I would also level at "the trials", dull I'm afraid ...
The good bits? The maids made us all laugh, a lot! The boys were, in my opinion, excellent and the charming of the guards by musical music was , indeed, charming and had us all chuckling for quite a while. The Magritte influenced design worked very well for me with some lovely moments and design quips ... and a full chorus in orange is a stunning thing to see.
With the cuts just announced I fear for the future of such events; large orchestras, lavish designs, substantial choruses may be under threat, indeed the whole touring opera world (where it receives arts funding) must feel very uncertain at present and its loss would be a tragedy ... this was not an elitist evening for the rich, the Bristol Hippodrome was packed with all sorts, young and old, people who had dressed up and those who had simply turned up ... it would be a tragedy to lose this in the regions and for opera to return to just a few, over-priced, houses out of the reach (financially and geographically) of so many people.
Go see, especially if you think opera is not for you, and enjoy ...
