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Silberglöckchen, Zauberflöten
Jan. 30th, 2008 11:23 pmRecently I was lucky enough to step out with a friend to Covent Garden for the opening night of die Zauberflöte.
The ROH and ENO have both staged revivals of The Magic Flute this year; ENO publicised theirs as the last-ever outing for Nicholas Hytner's 1988 production. The thing is: ENO have no cash, and that production's been a stalwart of theirs for years. I can't really see them daring to retire it unless they're very confident of whomever they've got lined up to do a new one (Jonathan Miller? Zandra Rhodes again? Who the hell knows?)
Covent Garden's production isn't as stark as ENO's: there's more colour, more adornment, a little more gilding. Nothing like the glitz of some American productions, but a restrained, understated beauty (with occasional horrible lapses, such as the awful costume they stuck Papagena in. That's her in the top photo. What were they thinking?)
( Come have a seat in the gods )
The ROH and ENO have both staged revivals of The Magic Flute this year; ENO publicised theirs as the last-ever outing for Nicholas Hytner's 1988 production. The thing is: ENO have no cash, and that production's been a stalwart of theirs for years. I can't really see them daring to retire it unless they're very confident of whomever they've got lined up to do a new one (Jonathan Miller? Zandra Rhodes again? Who the hell knows?)
Covent Garden's production isn't as stark as ENO's: there's more colour, more adornment, a little more gilding. Nothing like the glitz of some American productions, but a restrained, understated beauty (with occasional horrible lapses, such as the awful costume they stuck Papagena in. That's her in the top photo. What were they thinking?)
( Come have a seat in the gods )