(Above: The cast of Eugene Opera’s The Magic Flute takes a bow at the end of the Friday evening’s opening performance; photo by Paul Carter.)
By Daniel Buckwalter
If, like me, you have grown weary of the farce that has charred all manner of society the past two years, Eugene Opera has the perfect antidote: Comedy farce.
Eugene Opera’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute opened Friday night at the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall to a deeply appreciative audience that was ready to cut loose after all major productions were shelved in March 2020 because of the pandemic.
The Magic Flute concludes with a Sunday matinee, and I would encourage everyone to witness all the human passions rolled into the glory of libretto and score that captivates and never leaves you feeling as if it’s getting old. It will leave you with a smile.
Yes, Eugene Opera last September did a small staging of Lucy at Wildish Theater in Springfield, but to see the costumes and the stark stage settings, to observe the interplay between the characters (with no microphones, because these are opera singers, and they don’t need microphones) and to hear an orchestra in the pit made the evening worth it.
I hesitated before agreeing to see the opera. The elephant in the room — now something called the Omicron variant — had me peeking around corners again, nervous about walking in full stride.
Sometimes, though, like the characters Tamino and Papageno in The Magic Flute, you have to innocently plow ahead in the “fight for love and virtue,” however you define it.
Friday night, that love and virtue manifested itself in slapstick comedy from the court-jester-type character Papageno (baritone Zachary Lenox). He may have been the star of the night.
Papageno and Tamino (tenor Derrek Stark) embark early in the opera to “rescue” Pamina (Camille Ortiz) from the clutches of the towering and presumably evil Sarastro (bass Andrew W. Potter) and return Pamina to her mother, Queen of the Night (Melanie Spector).
But is Sarastro evil or benevolent? Is the Queen of the Night a grief-stricken mother or a cunning manipulator who is looking to control the universe?
Of such things operas are created.
Tamino and Papageno, guided by the three spritely spirits, walk through the fire in a foreign land in pursuit of wisdom and love. Their path is our path, and their destination — to be greater than they previously knew how to be during hardship — should be our goal.
All of it, as Mozart emphasizes throughout, is done with the power of music.
It was a joy to listen to Queen of the Night’s aria again, as well as the rest of the score. This production of The Magic Flute even had a touch of 1980s flair to it, with snippets from Whitney Houston and Journey as well as men dressed in fur coats.
The audience, which filled roughly half of Silva Concert Hall, gave the cast a rousing and deserving ovation.
And I understand why some who wanted to attend chose not to. Again, the elephant in the room had to clear its throat, and Eugene Opera is just one of many art entities that has to carefully monitor the pandemic’s effects and take precautionary measures.
The Metropolitan Opera in New York City, now entering a long-planned mid-season break, has seen its attendance dip since December, when the Omicron variant first hit.
The Met, in spite of all the ups and downs COVID has created, has not missed a curtain since its reopening in September, and now Eugene Opera can say the same thing with The Magic Flute.
Go see it on Sunday afternoon. It will leave you with a smile.
Eugene Opera’s “The Magic Flute” continues on Jan. 30
When: 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 30
Note: Conductor Andrew Bizantz will give a free lecture that starts 45 minutes before the performance.
Where: Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Center (7th and Willamette streets), Eugene
Tickets: $15 to $79, available at the Hult Center box office, 541-682-5000 or online at hultcenter.org
Covid protocol: https://hultcenter.org/health_safety/#vaccination-negative-test-requirement
