The Magic of Mozart - Die Zauberflote, ROH 27 April 2013

Before I review this performance I thought I'd better give you a little insight into my operatic adventures to date. I suppose I grew up listening to operatic music in the home on a fairly regular basis.  My late Mum loved the opera and listened to singers ranging from Mario Lanza to Placido Domingo and Pavarotti and most singers in between - but she never really had the opportunity to see live opera on a regular basis - due to geographical location and lack of funds.  So for me the music was there in the background and something that over time I came to love myself.  However, again due to geography and funds, I let my live performance going slide and contented myself with DVD's and recordings....until a couple of years ago I found my enthusiasm renewed - and lo and behold I was in the right place (just outside of London) and with just enough disposable income to indulge my love for all things operatic.

I write this as quite a lot of my reviews will undoubtedly start with the words 'this is my first performance of....etc etc'.  So let's just say that I'm making up for lost time when it comes to live operatic performance.


So, taking the above into consideration let me start by saying that this was my first experience of Zauberflote (Magic Flute) in the theatre and it was with a little trepidation that I settled myself into my seat and waited for the music to start. Don't get me wrong, I love Mozart although mainly his orchestral works it has to be said.  For me, as with Wagner, there are some unacceptable dramatic longueurs in Mozart opera even though the music is sublime. Luckily my slight misgivings evaporated almost as soon as the overture sprang into life in the capable hands of Julia Jones, our conductor for the evening. Sometimes you can just tell from the overture when the performance is going to be a good one and that was the case here.

It's almost impossible for me to single out any of the performers as they were pretty much all equally good.  Charles Castronovo as Tamino brought a rich lyric Italianate tone to the role and some pretty convincing acting to what could be a stock 'romantic fairy tale prince' sort of role.  Tenors are not on the whole the most interesting roles in Mozart opera - he had most fun with sopranos and baritones, but Castronovo almost convinced me that Mozart tenors aren't such a bad lot really.  I now look forward to seeing him in Puccini's La Rondine in July.

But as I said, all of the cast were equally good - Ekaterina Siurina in gorgeously lyrical voice as Pamina, Brindley Sherratt noble and persuasive as Sarastro and a special mention to Albina Shagimuratova as the glacial Queen of the Night who threw off the stratospheric high notes and coloratura with ease. I've never encountered Christopher Maltman before (my loss) but as Papageno the delightfully dumb bird catcher, he gave us a funny but still touching portrayal of a man looking for love in all the wrong places and his bewilderment in being caught up in events beyond his control was evident.

David McVicar's production is colourful and magical with some now iconic images of the Queen of Night, the serpent and the Three Boys who fly over the stage in a wooden go-kart.  I was pleased to see a fair scattering of children in the audience as this is an opera entirely suitable for younger opera lovers as well as older one's.

However, there is one thing about the production that does does give me pause for thought.  The character of Monostatos, portrayed here as a rather silly pantomime-ish villain who lusts after Pamina has been subjected to the politically correct whitewash treatment - for in the original libretto Monostatos is in fact a Moor and there are references to this scattered throughout the libretto - all of which have been removed for this production.  I find this rather bizarre although alas not surprising.  For while it seems we can deal with the sexism prevalent in the text of the opera - the audience (including the women) laughing ironically at such old fashioned ideas, it seems that we can't yet deal with the implied racism portrayed and have to quite literally whitewash it out of existence - easily done as I presume the majority of the audience like me, can't speak German and therefore rely on the super-titles above the stage for the translation.  How easy then just to brush the racism out as if it never existed.  But why do it just because you can?  Would you make Shakespeare's Othello a white man? Or Shylock a Gentile   Of course not.  It would make a mockery of the whole play.  So why brush racism under the carpet?  Why not find a way to deal with it in the opera?

Rant over.

This is still  an opera that can be seen and enjoyed on many levels - for the music obviously.  But also it is an opera about fairy tales and rituals, right and wrong, it is an opera about magic, theatre and music - and that's without acknowledging the undoubted Masonic influences liberally scattered throughout.

This was a highly enjoyable and uplifting night at the opera.  Mozart really is magic.