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The singers barely move, they're stuck in the screen in their revolving doors so the projections will sync with their positions.ĭuring a crossover, lecherous Monostatos (tenor Aaron Pegram) drives an animated pack of dogs, with the leash perfectly matching his hand. No matter the depth of animation or the sense of movement – when Tamino descends into the temple of Sarastro (bass Anthony Robin Schneider), we feel a bit queasy, like we did decades ago during Cinerama's roller coaster, even though no one is actually moving – the whole opera lacks depth, it's one-dimensional.
#HOUSTON GRAND OPERA PAST SEASONS FULL#
The entire production is so clever and imaginative, beautifully realized, full of magic, comic wonder, and love of the movies.īut all this theatrical sorcery tires. A gigantic cartoon moth lowers the three Spirits (youngsters Alexis Medina, Ella Clark Theuer, Liam Norton) in a wicker basket as if by balloon.
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The Three Ladies (Caitlin Lynch, Sun-Ly Pierce, Taylor Raven) blow kisses to handsome Tamino which morph into valentine candy hearts. The dragon chasing Tamino soars hither and yon while cartoon arrows follow it. The Queen of the Night (coloratura soprano Rainelle Krause), the opera's most iconic role, becomes a giant spider, her spiky legs encasing the helpless hero Tamino (tenor Norman Reinhardt).īird catcher Papageno (baritone Thomas Glass) runs in place, his legs jogging comically in animation. Use all its tropes – inter titles (which replace the opera's dialogue passages), cinema techniques like fades, iris ins and outs, even its annoying scratches and artifacts pay homage to Buster Keaton, Nosferatu's Max Schreck, cinema bad-girl Louise Brooks and then project this on a giant screen in front of which the singers interact. This is a production where you stare agape at the images, awestruck in amusement, yet you hear this wondrous soundtrack lurking in the background, somewhat undervalued and slightly unused. There's so much going on – projections, animations, and special effects (the old-school wizards at Disney would heartily applaud and be green with envy) – all brilliantly realized and conceived – that there's no other place for Mozart than the backseat. Mozart being Mozart, it's difficult to upstage him, but the real star of this show is animation designer Paul Barritt, 1927's co-founder and co-artistic director. Whether this is good for the future of the art, I don't quite know, for Herr Mozart takes second place to all the visual shenanigans that surround his sublime music.
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A feat of theater prestidigitation of the highest caliber, it raises the bar for all operas yet to come. It is spellbinding, amazingly theatrical, state-of-the-art, and thoroughly mesmerizing. Houston Grand Opera's presentation of Mozart's final masterpiece, The Magic Flute, a co-production between Komische Oper Berlin and London avant-garde theater company 1927, is one for the ages.