A Sometimes Magical ‘Flute’

It wasn’t Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote” Saturday night at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Decisively, this was “The Magic Flute.” Opera Pacific had opted for Andrew Porter’s sensible translation of the folksy-lofty comedy, and, just in case anyone missed a word, the English text was redundantly flashed, two rhyming lines at a time, on the super-title screen atop the proscenium. The translator’s name, not incidentally, was omitted from the program credits: Ask not why.

The audience loved reading the opera. Unfortunately, the eager first-nighters often laughed at the jokes before they could be sung. Under the circumstances, the delicate balance between words and music--between Schikaneder’s often ridiculous libretto and Mozart’s always sublime score--was compromised.

Obviously, looking was more important than listening.

In this special instance, looking became doubly appealing because the stage was decorated with the famous painterly flats--or unreasonable facsimiles thereof--created by David Hockney for the Glyndebourne Festival in 1978.

These mock-primitive essays in symbolic symmetry have served many a “Magic Flute” in the interim, from La Scala to the Met, from San Francisco to Pittsburgh, and the sets now look a bit the worse for wear. Compounding the problem, Ken Tabachnick, the lighting designer on duty here, failed to bring out the true intensity of Hockney’s glowing colors.

Still, the stage pictures were invariably stylish, invariably supportive of the drama. One can’t take that sort of advantage for granted in operatic Orange County.

The drama was entrusted on this occasion to Jay Lesenger, who kept things moving smoothly, used the inherited decors resourcefully, and sometimes stressed the inherent wit at the expense of the inherent wisdom.

The director allowed Papageno, the populist-aviary bumpkin, to make his entrance through the auditorium and mingle with the customers--a cutesy idea whose time has gone. Lesenger let the three lascivious Ladies, attendants of the Queen of the Night, flounder in vulgarity. He could not seem to decide whether Monostatos, the erstwhile Moor, was a villain or a clown.

The director did his best to refocus the fuzzy philosophies of the opera. He deserved gratitude for restoring some of the narrative dialogue traditionally cut, and for revising some of the politically incorrect language (presumably with Porter’s acquiescence). The racial slurs were deleted. The slurs against women, however, were not. And little was done to tone down the pomposity, not to mention the cruelty, of sanctimonious Sarastro and his not-so-high priests.

If the dramatic elements proved a bit problematic in this “Magic Flute,” the musical values were often splendid. Klaus Donath conducted with a knowing, telling combination of speed and grace, sustaining lightness and transparency that never precluded urgency in a challenge that many a famous maestro makes portentous.

David DiChiera, general director of Opera Pacific, reinforced the positive by assembling a cast of talented young Americans who, for the most part, savored pathos as well as elegance.

Paul Austin Kelly looked like a perfect storybook prince as Tamino and applied his slender tenor to the Mozartean cantilena with uncommon refinement and poise. Janet Williams brought radiance and uncloying innocence to the demure duties of Pamina.

Thomas Barrett introduced a charmingly earthy, reasonably restrained Papageno. Robin Lee Parkin seconded him aptly as the feathery soubrette in residence.

The rival forces of light and darkness turned out to be somewhat less successful. Kevin Bell invested Sarastro’s deep platitudes with solid basso tone and stilted oratorical affect. Anna Vikre negotiated the fiendish coloratura of the Queen of the Night neatly, top Fs and all, but conveyed little power or menace in the process.

Jon Kolbet, exceptionally wily as Goro in the local “Madama Butterfly,” tried valiantly to bridge the contradictions of Monostatos’ character and sang his patter ditties crisply. The Three Ladies--Patricia Edwards, Laurel Boyd and Cynthia Sadler--emerged musically meek, theatrically coy. Dean Elzinga brought minimal weight to the weighty pronouncements of Sarastro’s baritonal spokesman.

The boy sopranos drafted as magic spirits--Colin Nelson, Gabriel Kalomas and Derek Kwong--piped their trios with sweet reticence. The priestly chorus, trained by Henri Venanzi, sounded a bit scrappy.

This “Flute” may not have been consistently magical. Mozart’s challenge remains deceptively complex. Still, Opera Pacific ended its season with honor.

* “The Magic Flute,” presented by Opera Pacific at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Remaining performances Sunday, March 22 and 24 at 8 p.m., March 26 at 2 p.m. Tickets $18 to $125. Information: (800) 346 - 7372.