Opera Theatre Of Weston Stages Ambitious Mozart Work

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(Host) The Opera Theatre of Weston has been bringing opera to children and families for 12 years.

This year’s staging of Mozart’s "The Magic Flute" is its most ambitious undertaking to date.

All this week school groups have been treated to an abridged but lavish staging of the great operatic fantasy.

The company will present the complete opera this weekend. 

VPR’s Susan Keese takes us back stage for a preview.

(Keese) Mozart wrote The Magic Flute to appeal to the masses as well as the elite. And this performance, populated by a mix of professionals and locals, is ideal for introducing children to the art form.

It’s a fairy tale, full of dragons, princesses, quests and battles between darkness and light. And it’s even in English.

(Messier) We have an updated translation that we’re using that’s accessible to everyone…

Lise Messier is the Opera Company of Weston’s founder and director, along with her partner, soprano Nan Noll.

Messier says the opera, written just before Mozart died, includes spoken dialogue, comedy and great music.

(Messier) "There’s everything in this opera. Mozart gives us these catchy simple folk tunes as well as the elaborate Italian arias….Because it is based on a fairy tale we are introduced to some fantastical characters, like this strange bird catcher man…".

(Flute music) (Womack)" My trade is catching birds you know. I spread my net and in they go. And young and old throughout this land are always glad to shake my hand….."

The bird catcher, Papageno, catches songbirds for the Queen of the Night, who rules the land in which the tale begins.  Mark Womack, a professional from New York, plays Papageno.

( Womack )"He’s the guy that everybody in the audience that everyone can relate to. He’s just a very simple guy and so he presents his view of all of these lofty things going on in a very simple way…."

Papageno is out catching birds when he meets the young prince Tamino, who becomes his companion in a quest for love and truth.

The journey is launched by the queen of the night, played by Katie Gartner Kaplan, a former student of Messier.

(Thunder claps, then Queen comes up under)  Musical director Angela Hines Gooch says the Queen’s role includes some of the highest notes in the world of opera. 

(Gooch)" Every time the Queen enters we see thunder and lightning and it’s very dramatic, and then we hear these exquisite high F’s and ….shrieking sounds of the queen’s drama."

(Keese) The Queen asks Tamino, the prince, to rescue her daughter from the Temple of the High Priest Sarastro. She manages to convince the prince that she, the queen, is good, and Sarastro is evil – though really, the opposite is true. 

(Queen’s aria)

Papageno is commanded to go with Tamino. The queen gives the prince a magic flute, which she says will protect him. Papaeno gets some bells, and they both get three "charming spirits" to help guide them.

The spirits are all played by local children, students of Messier and Noll.

Papageno and Tamino arrive at Sarastro’s temple ready to wreak vengeance, but soon figure out that Sarastro is really the good guy.

The queen’s daughter, Pamina, has been brought to the temple for safety because the queen wants to use her for her evil purposes.

Pamina and the prince immediately fall in love, and even the bird catcher Papageno meets a Papagen-ah, the woman he’s been waiting for to share his simple life.

But before there can be a happy ending, the high priest Sarastro says the two men must be tested.

First there’s a test of silence. Stage director Diana Stugger says that turns out to be a test for Pamina too.

(Stugger) "She’s never told why Tamino can’t speak to her. She’s wrenched from her mother, put in this kingdom by her father…. And then she meets Tamino, this prince who loves her…. But she’s never told that he can’t talk to her…"

In the end, all the good characters learn their proper lessons and win their true loves and a lot of power to boot. But Stugger says the Princess Pamina grows the most.

Meagan Brus, the young professional who plays the princess, agrees.

(Brus) "She’s not a wimp. I like that. ….. she has a depth to her that other characters don’t have that I’ve played…"

Brus, who’s appearing at Weston for the first time, says it’s also a chance to play a major operatic role far from the stress and competition of the big city.

The cast and crew also hope to encourage the next generation of opera fans.  They say it’s clear from watching the children sit mesmerized by the drama and spectacle and the sheer power of the music – that their efforts are succeeding.

For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese, Backstage at Weston.

(Host ) The Opera Theater of Weston will present matinee performances of The Magic Flute this weekend.

 

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