A new
English libretto by Carl Rafferty - Music by W.A. Mozart - Produced by Carl
Rafferty,Directed by Shane Treeves - Musical Director: Peter Tregear
The Albert
Hall – May 3-5th.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
For some years
now Carl Rafferty has been presenting a style of “dinner opera” in the Albert
Hall, under the title of “Opera by Candlelight”. With its classic Federation period elegance,
The Albert Hall provides a perfect venue for this endeavour, and with this
finely honed production, Rafferty has perfected the recipe for presenting a
unique and memorable evening of opera with the potential to become yet another major Canberra tourist blockbuster.
On arrival, guests
are greeted with the spectacle of the superb hall set with tables dressed in crisp white table-cloths, each surrounded
by eight burgundy chairs, and on each, a silver candelabra complete with
flickering candles. The stage is
extended with a spectacular setting, created by Wayne Shepherd, in readiness
for the opera which will be performed between courses of dinner.
Guests are encouraged
to dress elaborately, and to bring their own food and wine, and most enter into
the mood of the night with gusto, loading the tables with fine food and wine,
and dressing appropriately. Midway through the evening a prize is given to the
best decorated table.
Promptly at
7.00 o'clock, the performance begins, and on this occasion it is “The Magic
Flute” for which Carl Rafferty, in addition to producing the opera, selecting
the cast, the setting and the costumes, and who also plays piano in the orchestra,
has written a new English libretto based on the original work by Emanuel
Schickaneder. In doing so, he’s removed
all of the freemasonry symbols and most of the darker references, and come up
with a thoroughly enchanting singspiel which if not the opera Mozart intended,
is certainly wonderfully cohesive and
entertaining.
Rafferty has
cast his net wide to assemble a cast who are talented as well as young and
attractive, and while not all of them yet have the voices for their roles,
there is some spectacularly good singing on offer. Young New Zealand tenor
James Adams is well cast as Prince Tamino.
Not only is he as good-looking as any Walt Disney prince, he also has a
fine tenor voice, and can act, finding exactly the correct tone of slightly
silly manliness for the role.
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| James Adams as Prince Tamino |
His Princess Pamina is a 21 year-old Slovenian soprano, Jerica Steklasa, who, as
well as also being very beautiful, possesses
a glorious voice and the ability to act her role with such conviction and
sincerity that the audience is quickly drawn into the story. Her handling of the scene in which
she pleads with Tamino, who has been sworn to silence, to speak to her, was especially
moving. Canberra audiences are fortunate to have the opportunity to see this
talented young singer making her role debut as Pamina, because, having just won
Slovenia’s important TEMSIG music competition just prior to arriving in Canberra,
she is without doubt destined for a brilliant singing career.
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| Jerica Steklasa who played Princess Pamina |
Kate
Rafferty was splendid as the icy and imperious
Queen of the Night, tossing off the difficult vocal gymnastics with
confidence and style, while the impressively deep-voiced, Philip Barton,
managed to invest his Sarastro with a
warmth and dignity not normally associated with this role.
While Zach
Raffan, who shares the role of Papageno with Daniel Nicholson, may not have the
best singing voice on stage, he certainly doesn’t lack acting ability and
managed to bring considerable charm to his Papageno. His final “Pa, Pa, Pa”
duet with the vivacious Cecilia Connell as Papagena, provided one of the many highlights of the
evening.
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| Cecilia Connell (Papagena) Zach Raffan (Papageno) |
Directing
his first opera, Shane Treeves also gave an energectic performance in the role
of Sarastro’s slave, Monostatos, and while he made quite a strong impression in
the role, it was his work as director which was particularly impressive. His
staging is imaginative and resourceful, and most importantly, he displays a
sense of musical awareness not always present in opera directors and one looks
forward to his next directing assignment.
The musical
accompaniment for the production was provided by a small seven-piece ensemble
conducted by Peter Tregear, which played standing on a raised stage to one side
of the performing area, in full view of the audience. This was an interesting
innovation which worked very well, and after a shaky start in the overture,
they soon settled down to provide a vivacious and beautifully balanced account
of Mozart’s magical score.
Anna
Rafferty, Diana Tulip & Philippa Murphy were excellent as The Queen of the
Night’s three attendants, and together with Dharshi Paheerathan, Meg Hobson
& Philippa Blunn who played the three boys who provide excellent narrations which propel the action
along, all sang prettily, acted their characters vivaciously and provided an
excellent choral sound throughout, augmented from time to time by Kobi
Cumberland, Mark Evans, Hugh McCarthy and Noeme Huttner filling various small
roles enthusiastically.
Excellent
production values and the confidence displayed by the performers resulting from
three performances given in Sydney in the week prior to the Canberra season,
insured a remarkably smooth opening night performance, and an especially
memorable “Opera by Candlelight” experience for those attending this unique
production of “The Magic Flute” which went a long way towards capturing the
elusive magic of this most magical of all operas.