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Opera with a smile on its face
Now it's not every day you see a flying fish bike held up by a balloon ridden here by Katrina Nimmo, Jenny Bianco and Rachel Mills who were a delight as the three boys. Pictures: Robert Workman Welsh National Opera
Birmingham Hippodrome
**** WHEN an opera starts off with a giant
lobster, includes a pedal powered flying fish and a chorus including a
rhinoceros, stag and monkey and there is no Parisian garret or windswept
battlements in sight, it is a fair bet this is likely to be a fun
evening. And so it proves. Dominic Cooke’s surreal
production has just celebrated its 10th birthday and still has a
freshness and, let’s be honest, enough silliness about it to make it
entertaining. Mozart’s singspiel, opera with singing and
dialogue, was a baroque fairytale, a light-hearted comedy in Emanuel
Schikaneder’s original libretto, heavy with
Freemasonary overtones with Sarastro’s mysterious brotherhood and its
rituals. It delighted 18th century audiences and contains references and
philosophical themes which are perhaps lost on audiences today. But this translation by Jeremy Sams is a much
lighter, fun affair with Papageno its main jester which sees Daniel
Grice mixing slapstick with a fine baritone voice.
It is a wonderful comic role, a real audience
pleaser, written by Schikaneder for himself for the 1791 premiere. It is
a part with all the best lines, funny one liners and more arias, three,
than any other part. Schikaneder wasn’t daft. He made sure he was the
star. Grice, looking like Harpo Marx, displays fine comic timing in the part as a foil to the more serious Tamino, the lovelorn prince, sung by tenor Benjamin Hulett. It is a strange thing, but even when an opera is
sung in English the surtitles are still useful, but they are hardly
needed at all when Hulett sings, such is the clarity of his voice and
his diction. There was impressive singing too from Elizabeth
Watts as the kidnapped Pamina, daughter of Queen of the Night – the
forces of darkness in case you were wondering – and Sarastro, the bad
guy who is really the good guy leading the forces of enlightenment. Elizabeth, who has a first class honours degree
in archaeology incidentally, has a wonderfully clear and seemingly
effortless soprano and her control is something to marvel at, amply
illustrated beautifully in her act II tragic aria, Ah, I feel it is
gone, when Tamino cannot speak to her because of his vow of silence as
part of his trial of his virtue. She really is a fine
British
soprano to be cherished. Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, with a
black train filling half the stage, has the unenviable task of singing
two of Mozart’s most difficult arias, not that you would know it from
her excellent delivery although you get the feeling she was happier
singing than speaking in the role. They were written for Mozart’s
sister-in-law Josefa Hofer who had a remarkable range hitting high F
with ease.
On the side of the gods was Scott Wilde as
Sarastro, a commanding figure on stage. He is a big lad with a big, deep
voice to match, a bass that shakes the air. There was good support from the delightful
Camilla Roberts, Máire Flavin and Emma Carrington as the three maids and
Claire Hampton as Papagena while Howard Kirk is quite disturbing as the
sexual predator Monostatos, managing to convey a cold, flaccid and
clammy presence whenever he crept in. Conductor Simon Phillippo brought a lively pace
out of the always excellent WNO orchestra playing with a clear, light
touch which suits Mozart’s score which always seems aimed at showing off
the skills of musicians and singers. Julian Crouch’s set design with more doors than a
B&Q showroom set with clouds and night sky in turn, along with Kevin
Pollard’s costumes, from lions to the orange bowler hatted, booted and
suited brotherhood, haven’t dated at all and the brotherhood popping
their heads up from holes in the floor, like a mob of curious meerkats
still raises a smile. And that is the thing about the whole opera, it
is fun and it raises a laugh. It might not be dramatic or spectacular
but you will go home happy with a smile on your face. Roger Clarke
10-06-15 The Welsh National Opera perform a new opera Peter Pan on Thursday (11 June), The Magic Flute again on Friday (12 June) and a new production of Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélisande on Saturday (13 June)
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