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`Magic Flute' Starts Met Mozart Tribute
Nathan Gunn gyrated his pelvis like Elvis, jumping about with ease.
The Metropolitan Opera's tribute to the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth began Saturday with a revival of "The Magic Flute" in the colorful Julie Taymor production that debuted last season, and Gunn sang the role of the bird catcher Papageno for the first time at the house, giving a performance that dominated the busy staging.
His voice is moderate, not overwhelming, but is quite moving and is enhanced by superior acting. Whether jumping up stairs, sliding around the Lucite sets or getting scared at virtually every moment, Gunn entertained and was the center of attention in the performance, broadcast nationally on radio.
"Die Zauberfloete," as Mozart's final opera is called in its German title, should not focus just on Papageno, but rather compare all the characters who are paired for a series of transforming experiences × Tamino and Papageno, Tamino and Pamina, Papageno and Papagena, Sarastro and the Queen of the Night. Gunn's performance was so good it threw the balance out of whack a little bit.
The only other singer who was able to command the stage at that level was Erika Miklosa, who was appropriately fierce in the Queen of the Night's headdress of banners and displayed a sparkling coloratura that managed the high Fs with ease.
Eric Cutler was a winning Tamino, who is costumed like a samurai warrior in white face, and Mary Dunleavy, a former Queen of the Night, was endearing as Pamina.
Morris Robinson has an imposing bass but still is working into the role of Sarastro, not sounding comfortable with the German diction. Anna Christy was a spunky Papagena, and Julien Robbins, like Christy a holdover from last season's opening-night cast, was an ominous Speaker.
Paul Daniel, the former music director of the English National Opera, made his Met debut and drew a grittier sound than James Levine did last season.
Taymor's production, with huge colorful animal puppets that dance and fly, gives dramatic costumes to all, putting spotlights on some of the secondary roles, such as the Three Ladies (Susannah Glanville, Maria Zifchak and Malin Fritz) and the Three Spirits (Aiden Bowman, Thomas Riley and Garrett Eucker), who all entertained. Greg Fedderly humorously pranced about as Monostatos with his slaves.
Many children were in the audience for the 3-hour, 15-minute performance, and the long stretches of spoken dialogue in Germany were difficult for some to sit through. The Met plans to experiment with a 90-minute version at holiday time next season.
There are four more performances of this season's run, including one on Friday, the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. In addition, a revival of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" will be staged on Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon (which also will be broadcast nationally on radio).
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