Within the first few seconds of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, it's obvious that designer David P. Gordon and director Darko Tresnjak are practical men of the theatre. The giant serpent which menaces Pamino in the opening scene has it's elaborate, cartoonish head protruding from the stage right vom and its tail, complete with stinger, from the left vom. With one stroke they've both solved a knotty design problem and established the theme of fairy-tale whimsy that dominates the production. It's that kind of intelligence and creativity that make this season opener such a success on nearly every level.
The purely visual elements are striking, to begin with. The Queen of the Night's realm is suggested by a midnight blue curtain dappled with stars, through which the queen and her Three Ladies appear and disappear as needed. When the action moves to Sarastro's pseudo-Egyptian court, the curtain rises to depict three doorways, which become pyramids when their tops are flown in. Linda Cho has costumed the queen and her henchwomen in flowing, dark blue and black gowns, Sarastro and company in golden, near-Eastern robes, and the villainous Monostatos in flared Arabian pants and turned-up shoes straight out of Aladdin. The only criticism to be made here is that the set pushed nearly all the action so far downstage that audience members on the sides likely felt a bit left out.
All this would have been wasted without a strong cast, of course. Tenor Eric Cutler has a powerful, clear voice and is convincingly heroic as Pamino while soprano Ying Huang is a completely charming Pamina. The plum comic role of Papageno goes to baritone Philip Cutlip and he more than does it justice both vocally and theatrically, getting all the laughs he should without pandering. Oren Gradus is appropriately impressive in the basso profundo part of Sarastro and tenor Frank Kelley is the picture of comic villainy as Monostatos. Only sopranos Regina Zone as the Queen of the Night and Sara Tannehill as Papagena failed to impress; the latter by simply lacking vocal power, the former by losing control of her high notes in both of her arias ‚ especially regrettable in the Act II "revenge" aria, which has become a standard coloratura showpiece.
[NOTE: Since this review was written, Zona has retired from the role for health reasons. Her replacement is Heather Buck except for the Saturday, June 22 performance, when the role will be sung by ensemble artist Byung-Soon Lee]
Director Tresnjak keeps things moving along briskly and provides witty touches of his own, like the Motown posing of the Three Ladies as they regrettably leave Pamino or the dancing Egyptian wildlife, complete with balletic hippo right out of Fantasia, who are enchanted by the titular flute. It's all done very tastefully, without detracting from Mozart's music or the underlying seriousness of Schickanader's libretto (in a fine translation by Andrew Porter and Colin Graham).
Grant Llewellyn conducts the Opera Theatre Orchestra with accuracy and verve, and the slight scrappiness in the violin section will probably disappear with time. The bottom line is that OTSL has a winner on its hands with this one. It bodes well for the rest of the season, which runs through June 30th and includes Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Thomas' Hamlet and Loss of Eden, a new work about the Lindberghs by OTSL Chorus Master Cary John Franklin. Call 314-961-0171 for ticket information or check out opera-stl.org on the web.