Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Circle (Seat J35, A$193.95).
At curtain call. There was no costume change except for the last scene, so I can't tell them apart. My attempt: From left: the three spirits, Papageno, Papagena, Pamina, Conductor, Tamino, Sarastro, Queen, three ladies, two priests. Note also very few people had shoes on.
They used to just distribute one sheet with the synopsis, and would not specify beyond their names who the singers are. Today something close to pamphlets were handed out.
Story. See previous post. I must say the story is still a bit confusing after having seen this opera a few times already. But I am getting there.
Conductor - Tahu Matheson. Pamina - Stacey Alleaume; Tamino - Michael Smallwood; Papageno - Ben Mingay; Queen of the Night - Giuseppina Grech; Sarastro/Speaker - David Parkin; Papagena - Jennifer Black; Monostatos - Kanen Breen.
If I had paid more attention, I probably would have known the opera would be sung in English. Since I didn't, that was the first surprise. The second surprise was something close to a program was handed out. In the past there were these one sheet handouts with the synopsis being the useful information. There were no listing of the cast (I believe their names were mentioned), orchestra, and other production members. In today's program all their names were listed, together with short descriptions. There were a few advertisements, and appeals for donations, which are to be expected.
The sets (or rather "set") were surprisingly simple. The best way I could explain it would be it's a general purpose "room" with three doors. Curtains of some sort are strung across the room at different times to denote different scenes. For someone without a general understanding of the different scenes it would be impossible to guess what was being depicted. I frankly couldn't tell what was what. Someone running across to set up these sheets of streamers as backdrops may be cute at first, but gets old very quickly. Often flashlights were used to cast images onto the screens (the dragon at the beginning, and the birds for Papageno). And why were so many people running around in their bare feet? Sandals would have worked just fine.
So, the story is confusing, the sets are "low budget." How about the music?
The singing was generally good. The overtures were done superbly, and most singers did well. Some of them were weak at times, a but surprising as that usually wasn't an issue in this auditorium. I thought they recently renovated the entire Sydney Opera House; acoustics evidently wasn't a big part of the project, "better machinery" and additional restrooms got top billings in the article I read. Too bad this production doesn't need a lot of fancy machinery, so we didn't get to see the improvements in action.
While there were many great arias in this opera, the headline grabbers are the two sung by the Queen of the Night. Giuseppina Grech was mostly up to the task, although the delivery was somewhat mechanical. One could also quibble with how good her intonation was, and if her voice could be a bit stronger, but at least she looked effortless in delivering the high Fs.
Until Anne reminded me, I had forgotten that we saw this opera in Sydney a while back. She remembered the Queen as missing the high note(s). I searched this blog and, indeed, we saw it in January 2009, 15 years ago. I don't have much recollection of the event, but my blog entry seems to indicate the sets were more elaborate. In that production the arias were done in German, while the dialog was in English. I also complained about how difficult it was to hear the dialog. Today the dialog was not nearly as challenging. I was in seat J22 for the 2009 performance, so same row, but closer to the center. Also, the cost of that ticket was A$140, versus A$185 today (the cost at the beginning of this entry includes the service charge).
The full opera lasts about 2 hours 35 minutes. Today's was about 20 minutes shorter, so there was some editing. Surprisingly the story isn't easier to follow when sung in English. Some liberty was taken by the translator, as Tamino (or Papageno?) lamented that he was neither Clark Gable or Tarzan. Was that necessary?
Nowadays perhaps one has to make some statements to show relevance of everything to modern-day issues. In the Director's Notes issues such as climate change, pandemic, and how we are co-dependent with the world were mentioned. That may all be true. However, to say the opera's message is about "a journey through dark and light to a harmony with nature; with our own natures and the power of forgiveness, play and music" is too much of a stretch for me. For most people to make that connection would require a lot more than referencing Clark Gable and Tarzan.
Nearly every singer was born in Australia. One notable exception is Papagena (Jennifer Black) who was born in California. Someone else was scheduled to conduct tonight's performance, the "substitute" was going to take over in a few days anyway.
As a "show" the performance was good. After all, I got in this morning after a long flight and spent the day running around the city, and managed to stay alert the entire time. However, as a statement on how we can do better it fell irrelevant.
I was staying in a Mascot hotel, so it was easy to get to the Opera House.
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