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Spoleto's The Magic Flute Receives Rave Reviews
"A Magical (and Funny) Magic Flute Proves a Delightful Re-Interpretation: Old Dog, New Tricks"
By: Lindsay Koob (Charleston City Paper)
In my 40-plus years of alleged adulthood, precious few occasions have truly transported me back to childhood. But that's exactly what happened at Friday evening's opening-night Spoleto USA production of W. A. Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Sottile Theatre. I've seen this fanciful and sorcery-ridden operatic coming-of-age tale at least 10 times (and even performed in it once) since I first thrilled to it as a boy of 12 in Vienna, Austria. No subsequent production of it ever engaged my inner child like this one did. Only as I clambered uncertainly to my feet for the final tumultuous standing ovation did my creaky joints remind me of my actual age.
The advance buzz was that this effort was going to strongly boost both the opera's inherent magic and humor: aspects that most versions I've seen have failed to fully realize. I'm convinced that the classical establishment has taken Mozart (a compulsive buffoon who reveled in "low humor") entirely too seriously for more than two centuries now. Thus I'm happy to report that here, at last, is a production that faithfully serves the composer's true spirit and intent for this work. After all — in spite of its exalted "grand opera" reputation, it's essentially a typical German Singspiel, with lots of spoken dialogue and undignified, earthy, even slapstick humor. It's lowbrow entertainment for the masses, but sober classical decorum and Mozart's godlike reputation have traditionally made something entirely too serious of it.
In a recent interview, co-directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser declined to comment on their specific plans for stage magic, on the grounds that the audience wouldn't perceive it as "real magic" if they revealed their various tricks beforehand. And I'm glad they didn't, because there was indeed real magic at hand, starting with the enchanted flute, which first appeared floating in mid-air. The magical set of Glöckchen (little bells) moved around a drunken Papageno, the bird-catcher, seemingly with a life of its own. Assorted fireworks and menacing outbursts of thunder and lightning weren't just confined to the stage, they exploded all over the theatre. Cunning modifications to the Sottile stage allowed for abrupt appearances and disappearances. The scene where the three boy-spirits thwart heroine Pamina's suicide attempt and then float off (airborne) with her into the wings seemed right out of Peter Pan's "I can fly" episode. And those are but a few of countless examples.
As for the work's inherent humor, the directors passed up no opportunity to bring it out. The three "ladies of the night," who normally come across as prim and seriously sinister minions of the evil Queen of the Night, were portrayed as the opera's wackiest buffoons, complete with outlandish costumes that borrowed from several centuries' worth of high (and low) fashion. This particular Papageno — the opera's comic mainstay — was by far the hammiest I've ever seen. Even the opera's supposedly serious Masonic symbolism was lampooned more often than not.
Almost everything else worked well, too. The Spoleto Festival Orchestra's players performed almost flawlessly under Conductor Steven Sloane's deft baton, producing lush and lively orchestral sound. Dr. Joe Miller's sterling Westminster Choir outdid itself. The spare sets and uncluttered stage allowed the magic to come at us from anywhere. Lighting design — a definite part of the "magic" — was imaginative and effective. The infinitely varied costumes contributed to the production's "timeless" effect, preventing the pegging of the piece to any particular period or place.
Major and minor characters alike were impressive, with a few nit-picking exceptions. Among the lead roles, Fabio Trümpy, as Tamino, used his gleaming lyric tenor voice to sweet and ardent effect. His sweetheart Pamina, played by soprano Marie Arnet, offered honeyed and love-stricken singing to match. Ruben Drole, with his rich, rolling baritone voice and relentless stage antics, was an absolute wonder as bird-man Papageno. Soprano Audrey Luna, as the Queen of the Night, wowed her listeners with her (mostly) glittering coloratura acrobatics. Kevin Short, in the role of the high priest Sarastro, was literally a towering stage presence, thanks to his concealed stilts and commanding bass voice. The three ladies of the night were all vocally secure and comically effective. The children playing the three spirits — listed as knaben (or boys) in German productions — were charming, as well as vocally confident and competent. Their roles are being rotated among six kids, three of them girls. While women are cast in the spirit roles in most American productions, the presence of real youngsters here did much to sustain the prevailing sense of the supernatural.
It wasn't perfect. Minor defects included a brief moment of disconnect early on between hero Tamino's very attractive singing and the orchestra. And the Queen of the Night sounded just a bit sharp and screechy in her first aria's formidable high notes (but she surely nailed them in her second number). The near-capacity crowd probably never even noticed the remaining handful of tiny glitches that hardly bear mentioning.
There are seven performances to go, so you'll be hard-pressed to find an excuse for not attending this totally beguiling production. By all means, bring your kids, provided they know how to behave in public. Even the little five-year-old girl sitting close by me sat through the whole thing in rapt wonderment, with nary a peep or fidget. This definitely has the potential to be for them — as it was for me — a life-changing childhood experience. Just about the only scene not particularly suitable for youngsters was bad-guy Monostatos's attempted seduction (rape?) of Pamina early on.
This production's musicians and creative team have conspired to make Mozart's well-loved Magic Flute even more lovable. So here's your chance to revel in what may well turn out to be the finest and most entertaining performance of it you'll ever see.
Sottile Theatre Technical Director Featured in The Charleston City Paper
"Saving Grace and Sottile: Local Venues prepare for Spoleto"
By Erica Jackson Curran
The final countdown to Spoleto has begun, and we're all gearing up in different ways. Festival organizers scramble around taking care of last-minute details. Artists and performers put the finishing touches on their acts. Writers bust their butts to make deadline. And even local buildings are getting gussied up in anticipation of the thousands of art lovers that will swarm the city in the next few weeks. Two venues in particular are ready for their close-ups after months of renovations: the Sottile Theatre and Grace Episcopal Church.
Located on George Street, the College of Charleston's Sottile Theatre has been a favorite festival venue for decades. Built in 1927, the space originally known as the Gloria Theatre has served both the college community and city residents alike. Sadly, the theater had gotten a little shabby in recent years and was in need of an upgrade.
The first step was fixing the theater's King Street marquee, which was badly damaged after being hit by a truck on the narrow street. In December 2010, it was replaced with a shiny new sign modeled after the original. After that, the work moved inside. According to Technical Director Jeremiah Lewis, the majority of the effort went into replastering one of the theater's two main walls. They completely tore out the old plaster that had been exposed to too much moisture and constructed a new air barrier, replastered one wall, and salvaged the other.
In the process, they discovered two murals underneath that they were able to save and plan to restore over the next few years. Other upgrades include new walkable lighting trusses in the front of the house, new trap doors onstage, and a fresh coat of paint on the interior walls.
"I think there's definitely going to be a decent amount of shock when you first walk in," Lewis says. If you plan on seeing the opera The Magic Flute, you'll be one of the first to experience the refurbished venue.
Farther down the peninsula, Grace Episcopal Church has been undergoing renovations for a much longer period of time. Home of the Intermezzi Series, the Wentworth Street church has been covered in scaffolding for the last several years. Workers reached a break in construction this spring, and the church is excited to enjoy the first scaffolding-free festival in years.
Originally built in 1846, the resilient church has survived the Civil War, an earthquake, hurricanes, and a major rebuilding project. But in 2006, parishioners started noticing a new threat. Cracks were forming in the building, and they soon discovered that the steeple was sinking faster than the sanctuary building. This led to the discovery of other significant structural problems, including bricks with crumbling mortar. Engineers initially expected to repair 25 percent of the walls, but they ending up having to do 100 percent. They thought the project would last 18 months, but it took more than three years. Funded by the parish, the project has cost more than $10 million, and it still has a ways to go. But for now, the renovations are on hiatus while a state-of-the-art system program monitors any movement in the building.
"I think everyone is very pleased to have the scaffolding down, because the scaffolding was not only on the outside, it was on the inside of the church, too," says Randall Robinson, former chairman of the Building Committee. "It went up through the ceiling. I think the parish is quite relieved to be taking this pause. Everyone seems to be using this time as a time to refresh their spiritual engines and focus for a while on the important things in the church, which is outreach to the community."
And with a fresh coat of paint on the front of the church reflecting its original hue, Grace is ready to show off for Spoleto. Robinson says it will be an altogether more comfortable experience than the last few years.
"I think the parish was remarkable in what they were willing to go through, because you had to walk through scaffolding to get to your seats and oftentimes there were leaks in the roof because there were holes in the roof, and the air conditioner didn't work as well because there were big gaping holes through the outside, and now all that is much, much better," Robinson says. "We're looking forward to an enjoyable season."
Spoleto Chairman Martha Rivers Ingram Highlights Sottile Restoration in Brochure
Spoleto Festival USA’s success depends on many elements —the beauty and welcoming ambiance of Charleston, the generosity of spirit of our artists, the faith and support of our donors and audience members.
We also depend on an assortment of performance spaces that we use intensively. Longtime audience members know that over the last several years we have worked with various organizations to improve and preserve Charleston’s theaters: The Charleston County School Board was extremely cooperative in facilitating the renovations at Memminger Auditorium; and last season we celebrated the wonderful restoration of the Dock Street Theatre accomplished by the City of Charleston in partnership with Spoleto Festival USA.
This year it is the turn of the Sottile Theatre. The College of Charleston has been exceptionally accommodating in scheduling the renovation in phases so that we could use the theatre during this year’s Festival. So when you see it—as I hope you will—for our performances of The Magic Flute, you will see a work that is still very much in progress. As is so often the case with such undertakings, there have already been a few surprises at the Sottile. For example, when the demolition began, no one expected to find paintings under the acoustical tiles that, themselves, were behind the drapes that previously covered the Sottile’s walls, but when these paintings were discovered, the College made a commitment to restore them. You will see one wall inside the Sottile Theatre with its painting awaiting repair; the painting on the opposite wall has been removed for conservation and will be reattached after the Festival.
Above and beyond its flexibility around the Festival’s use of the Sottile, the College is an enormously important partner for Spoleto Festival USA in many other significant ways: Our orchestra and chorus members and many of our apprentices and technical crew stay in College-owned housing. The Cistern Yard is a memorable venue for some extraordinary outdoor concerts. It would be impossible to think of the Festival without the smaller events presented in the Emmett Robinson Theatre and the Recital Hall, both in the College’s Albert Simons Center for the Arts. And for the second year in a row, we are working with the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College’s wonderful new Marion and Wayland H. Cato, Jr. Center for the Arts to mount an exhibition during the Festival season, this year featuring Paolo Ventura’s fascinating Winter Stories.
Our primary partner, of course, is the City of Charleston itself. And I am very pleased to say that the City is working with the newly established Gaillard Performance Hall Foundation to renovate our major theater, the Gaillard Auditorium. This renovation will create an acoustically generous space that will enhance every performance on its stage, and a new façade that will enhance the beauty of an already beautiful neighborhood. The Gaillard is scheduled to close after the 2012 Festival; when it reopens in time for the 2015 Festival, it will take its place with Memminger, the Dock Street,and the Sottile as a major attraction for our audiences. And with the Gaillard’s reopening, this long season of renovations will come to an end, and Charleston’s portfolio of excellent theaters will bepoised to host performances for generations to come.
Photo: Detail of Mural at Sottile Theatre, By William Struhs
