Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Maestro Levine leads a noble account of DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE at the Met

• By drediman
• September 28, 2017
• No Comments

Julie Taymor’s production of “The Magic Flute” at the Metropolitan Opera

Tonight, I caught the opening night performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte led by the Metropolitan Opera’s esteemed longtime maestro, James Levine. In recent years, Mr. Levine has suffered a series of health scares in recent years. As such, I now cherish every opportunity to catch this legendary conductor lead the great Met orchestra. His account of Die Zauberflöte this evening was noble but never doting, even if his young cast failed to capture the emotional and psychological depth of Mozart’s deceptively cartoonish, fantastical “quest” opera.

Julie Taymor’s much-loved production remains quite the eyeful, which is to be expected from the theatrical wunderkind responsible for such Broadway spectacles as The Lion King and the much-maligned Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. I first saw Ms. Taymor’s version back and in 2004 and remember being mesmerized by the way she was able to synthesize compelling theater out of disparate, carefully-researched cultural and ritualistic influences (the same approach she took with her long-running stage adaptation of that Disney animated movie musical). My thoughts haven’t changed, and in hindsight, her staging has emerged as one of the Met’s signature productions, alongside the likes of Zeffirelli’s mammoth servings of La Boheme and Turandot for the Met.

The current, brief run at the Met features a mostly young, mostly solid cast. Notable performances came from tenor Charles Castronovo as the opera’s hero Tamino and bass Tobias Kehrer as the villan-turned-ally high priest Sarastro. Even if their characterizations did not surpass the realm of workmanlike, they each gave distinctive, commendable vocal performances. Golda Schultz (Pamina) and Kathryn Lewek (The Queen of the Night) also had fine moments, but were just about serviceable. Ultimately, the night belonged to Maestro Levine, whose presence in the pit was the star of the evening.

RECOMMENDED

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
Opera
The Metropolitan Opera
3 hours, 20 minutes (with one intermission)
Through October 14