Thanks to Den Norske Opera and The Opera Platform, we have a New Year's Day treat online! Mozart, Sci-Fi, and hover boards. Love it or hate it, it should at least be interesting. (It's sung/spoken in Norwegian with English subtitles.)Friday, January 1, 2016
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You had me at hoverboards! (And besides, I haven't listened to the Magic Flute for a while anyhow)
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty good. I keep trying to put together a review, but...well, you know....
DeleteMagic Flute is so fantastical anyway, I think that if one can let go a bit, one can relax into the spaceship, aliens, a furry (rather than feathery) Papageno, a froggish Monostatos (a good solution to the race issue, though I am sure someone will accuse the production of being Batrachophobic), and the fact that it's all in Norwegian.
Queen of the Night and Pamina are both pretty wonderful singers, and the rest are more than passable.
Since it is in Norwegian, I am not sure how much they meddled with the sung text. The translations are updated at least--and there seems (in the great tradition of Schikaneder) lots of contemporary-reference ad libbing--at least from Papageno. I appreciated the culturally aware update of "Bei Männern." Not limiting the source of godliness and happiness to the traditionally accepted form of marriage, but also recognizing that "her and her or him and him" can work too.