If I was the kind of person who had a favorite opera, The Magic Flute would be my favorite opera.
It has the drama factor, since it was Mozart's last finished project before his death (of trichinosis, rheumatic fever or Salieri, take your pick). The plot is a three-ring circus of melodramatic tropes: it starts as a detective story (Prince Tamino is approached by a no-good dame looking for her kidnapped daughter), turns into a fairy tale (Tamino receives a magic flute to aid him in his quest) and wraps up with a splash of spiritualism (Tamino is initiated into the secrets of a Masonic(ish) temple).
The Halifax Summer Opera Workshop's (HSOW) August 13 performance of The Magic Flute was my third viewing of the opera I'd seen the UBC Opera Ensemble's 2010 staging, as well as Julie Taymor's version at the Met. No Magic Flute Id seen before, though, conjured up The Queen of the Night's minions as career women in power suits, Sarastros temple as a Powerpoint-friendly corporation called "Isis and Osiris," or a Papageno prone to greeting threats with a glower and a rifle (hes usually a goofy bird-catcher).
Perhaps directors David Mosey and Garry Williams felt that HSOW had garnered enough of a pedigree to experiment a little. The Halifax Summer Opera Workshop has been staging arias in the August swelter since 2004, starting with Mozarts Cosi fan tutte. The company appears to favor Mozarts works Don Giovanni was produced in 2006, Il nozze di Figaro in 2008, and an earlier staging of The Magic Flute was put together in 2007. And, while not officially affiliated with Dalhousie, the programs Maritime locale means that it frequently draws upon the talents of Dal grads and students.
Managing the stage
One such student is Kayleigh Sheehan, who is going into her fourth year in Dalhousies technical scenography program (which, for the uninitiated, she explains as combining essentially everything thats backstage). Her unofficial specialty is stage management: it just sort of picked me, in a way. Im very well suited to it.
On HSOWs Magic Flute, Ms. Sheehans duties included looking for props, coordinating fittings, recording blocking, and calling the show (among sundry other tasks). This is Ms. Sheehans third show with HSOW (after 2010s Susannah and 2009s Little Women), but shes far from bored. Every production is different, even within the same company.
You wouldnt guess from the final product, but HSOW participants dont exactly have a wealth of time to prepare their performances: two operas have been produced simultaneously in recent seasons (this years Magic Flute went up with Offenbachs Les contes dHoffman), and the workshop itself is only a month long. However, Ms. Sheehan said that the unusual staging of the show harmonized serendipitously with their tight schedule.
One of the good things about it is we dont have to rely on historically accurate costuming, she explains. A lot of the workshop participants were actually in their own clothes. She also speaks approvingly of the double-cast performances: I love seeing the dynamics of two casts working through the same show.
Though still a student, Ms. Sheehans on-the-job experience, both through 窪蹋勛圖厙(she worked on recent shows such as Brechts The Caucasian Chalk Circle) and community endeavors like HSOW and the Atlantic Fringe Festival, is considerable. I work more often than I do school at the moment, she says. Ive been really lucky, Ive been given a lot of opportunities.
Creative choreography
Andrew Pelrine, who graduated from 窪蹋勛圖厙in 2010 with combined honors in music and theatre, choreographed this production of The Magic Flute (and played Monostatos in HSOWs 2007 production).
I started dancing when I was five ballroom, actually, says Mr. Pelrine of his background; perhaps more pertinently, he previously choreographed 窪蹋勛圖厙productions such as Die Fledermaus and Orpheus in the Underworld.
While also singing in this seasons Les contes dHoffman, Mr. Pelrine worked hard to capture the whimsical, yet modern, flavor of HSOWs new Magic Flute in its dances.
There definitely are changes and interpretations, because each director has their own vision they wanted a lot of it to be very playful and very childish, he explains.
Mr. Pelrine, who says he loves the concept of play was happy to oblige. And, while a current resident of Toronto, Mr. Pelrine was born and raised in Halifax and would love to come back and work on another show with HSOW.
After all, its not often one has the opportunity to spice up classical repertoire with the chicken dance.