Fun and games with Mozart's 'Magic Flute'
By DOROTHY ANDRIES Contributor Mar 14, 2011
Mary Lutz, Maggie Reberg, and Amanda Runge during dress rehearsal for "The Magic Flute." | Suzanne Tennant~Sun-Times Media
Updated: April 8, 2011 11:38AM
The Queen of the Night as a snowboarder? Pamina and Tamino as cheerleaders for Oak Park River Forest High School? You've got it right!
Sports are prominent in the Verismo Opera Club's production of Mozart's enigmatic comic opera, "The Magic Flute." The club's artistic director Bradley Schuller gives a heads up, when he declares "Expect the unexpected."
First of all, it will run 90 minutes with one intermission, considerably shorter than any downtown production of the full opera. And it makes no apologies for being family-friendly and even provides a moment when children can join right into Mozart's action.
In addition to singing, the Three Ladies who attend the Queen of the Night will do rhythmic gymnastics. They were trained in gracefully manipulating ribbons, hoops and balls by Kate Nack, who competed in that sport during the Atlanta Olympics and conducted a workshop with the singers.
Bass on course
Sarastro, the high priest, is a golfer while his servant Monastatos is his club-carrying caddy.
The three knaben or children, will be baseball players, clad in Los Angelos Angels' jerseys. Those parts are usually taken by boy sopranos, but Verismo has cast girls instead. "They are about 12 or 13 years old," said Yasmeen Schuller, managing director of the production, "and they sound lovely."
All this whimsy is certainly in the spirit of the opera, since Mozart decked out two of his dearest characters Papageno and Papagena in feathers.
The audience will recognize many references to pop culture, Schuller continued, and everything will be tied together by a narrator, Chicago actor Matt Dyson, who will be dressed as -- no surprise -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself, complete with white wig and 18th century garb.
"There are so many wonderful moving parts in this opera, that we have been working on it since November," Schuller said. This is Verismo's second production. Its first was "La Boheme," presented last August.
Experienced soprano
But what about the Queen of the Night, that soprano with that stratospheric range? That role is taken by Sara Salas, a recent graduate of the University of Nebraska, who has sung in Carnegie Hall and also has performed leading roles in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Cosi fan tutte."
The cast includes Aaron Wardell as Papageno, Rebecca Prescott as Papagena, Mark Donlin as Tamino, Sarah McIntyre as Pamina, David Govertsen as Sarastro and Frank Glab as Monastatos. Mary Lutz Govertsen is First Lady, Maggie Reberg is Second Lady and Amanda Runge is Third Lady.
"We cast a wider net this time," explained Schuller. "We posted the audition notice on our Facebook page, on the websites YAP Tracker and Classical Singer. We were overwhelmed to receive over 100 requests for audition."
Auditions took two days, one in December and one in January. The result is not only what she describes as an excellent cast, but also high-quality singers covering each role. "Or," she added, "as they say in the world of sports, we have a deep bench."
"The Magic Flute"
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, presented in English by the Verismo Opera Club at the the Arts Center, 200 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park. 7:30 p.m. Friday March 25 and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 27. $15 to $32 and are available in advance at verismooperaclub.org, at the Oak Park Visitors Center, or at the door. info@verismooperaclub.com.
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