Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 3 The Magic Flute

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 32 Wieden, of which Schikaneder was director from 1789 until 1801. He was also responsible for the creation of the Theater an der Wien, which opened in 1801 and housed his enchantingly extravagant presentations. “Schikaneder’s theater was a theater of visual effects, like a mixture of vaudeville and pantomime. He was very well known for doing scenic extravaganzas. This is why The Magic Flute is full of effects. That’s part of the nature of this opera. We’ve just sort of found a 21st-century form for what Schikaneder did in the 18th century,” said Kosky. The Magic Flute wasn’t intended for an aristocratic audience; rather, it was crafted for a public that craved dialogue and theatrical effects. “In a way, it’s a radical piece for Mozart to be involved in; for him to write this opera for Schikaneder’s theater is almost like Mozart writing a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas,” emphasized Kosky. Kosky and Andrade’s Flute nods back centuries. “There is a roller coaster of visual imagery in the piece, which is meant to delight and intoxicate, as Schikaneder did in the 18th century.” Don’t be misled by the intricate choreography and perfectly timed interactions, however; there is plenty of room for organic artistry and in-the-moment expression in this production. One might think that the music is subservient to the computer system and the timing of the visuals, but it’s actually the reverse: a conductor can take any tempo, and the animation will respond to the music in real time. “Although we have done this seemingly radical staging of The Magic Flute , we never, ever ignored the music,” Andrade assured. “The singers were tantamount. We positioned them around this huge screen and built choreography and animation around them, so they are totally wrapped up in this world and the music, acting, singing and animation all work around each other, in service to one another.” Kosky concurred: “If it weren’t a combination of live singers and animation, it would be dead.” Andrade, Barritt, and Kosky’s Flute isn’t rooted in reality. “The hybrid of singers interacting with animation means our inspirations get mashed up and thrown around and come out quite different, but with a hint of the familiar... like a weird dream in many ways,” remarked Andrade. This dreamspace is a perfect vehicle for The Magic Flute’s plot, as Kosky feels the piece needs to be presented as a sort of parable. “It needs to have a sort of naïveté and fairytale quality. You cannot stage the subtext—it falls apart. We found a visual language and performance style that mirrors that. If you try to approach Flute in the same way that you approach Don Giovanni or The Marriage of Figaro , you’re doomed to failure. This is a fairytale singspiel, which means you are presenting archetypes and dream images. Things shouldn’t make sense.” Kosky approaches directing this Flute in an entirely different way than his typical directorial style. He doesn’t normally use video in his productions. “It’s a very different form of theater than what I normally do, which is very psychological. This is choreography. The singers, particularly Tamino, Pamina, and Papagena, have to learn very complicated movements because they are interacting with animations, not themselves. It’s a sort of puppet theater using live singers. The singers are asked to play less psychologically and much more in terms of movement. Anyone who tries to create psychological complexity with this piece is doomed; you can’t do that with fairy stories or mythology.” 1927 and Kosky’s The Magic Flute takes full advantage of opportunities to highlight Mozart’s fantastical characters. Kosky deliberately chose not to trap characters in stereotypes or humanizations. “The only three characters that come anywhere near being human are the hero and heroine of the fairytale Tamino and Pamina, and Papageno.” Both Andrade and Kosky believe Papageno is the central figure in Flute . “He’s the most sympathetic and interesting character in the whole opera.” Andrade declared. “We realized early on that Papageno is the key to the show. The audience has to love him. We took as our inspiration the master of all lovable characters, Buster Keaton. We also gave him an animated cat. When in doubt, add a pet.” In this Flute -world, the Queen of the Night is a bloodthirsty, skeletal spider woman that hurls knives almost as precisely as she sings her high notes. At one point during her famous aria “Der Hölle Rache,” she sends a swarm of baby spiders to overcome Pamina as she lies helpless in the Queen’s web. “The Queen of the Night was a tricky one,” said Andrade. “We decided to abandon any ideas about her transformation from caring mother to monster, and went straight in with “The word that I always associate with Mozart is ‘humanity.’” - Barrie Kosky