Last Tuesday witnessed the premiere of Mozart's two-act opera ‘The Magic Flute' in Cairo Opera House's Main Hall. This is something I couldn't have missed... so I missed it and attended the third performance. It turned out to be the last one as well, because, for security reasons, the Opera administration cancelled the fourth and final performance, which was supposed to be on Friday. Backstage, most people were talking about politics, the Constitution, demonstrations, etc. The mood was not pleasant at all but artists, technicians and everyone were doing their jobs. The one thing everyone agreed on is that we all are tired and deserve to live in peace. Now to the opera itself – of course the original libretto is in German but in this production it was in Arabic. Luckily, the singing was in its original language. I am personally against the principle of changing singing into Arabic. I don't speak German but Mozart's music doesn't need to go to my head, because it goes straight to my heart. When it comes to operas, Mozart had an approach that differed from that of any other composer. He used to write for specific singers with special vocal ranges and abilities. For instance, one of the best arias ever is the outstanding ‘Der Hölle Rache kocht in Meinem Herzen' (The Vengeance of Hell Boils in My Heart), sung in this opera by the Queen of the Night. I once read that Mozart composed it for a relative! Come on Wolfgang... be fair. Some of Mozart's works, like ‘The Magic Flute', have been performed thousands of times round the globe by countless artists, who must have had a hard time to provide the appropriate output. The plot of this opera is more like a fairytale. In brief, it's all about Prince Tamino who is lost in the middle of nowhere and is asked by the Queen of the Night (no, not Whitney Houston) to save her daughter Pamina from the evil sorcerer Sarastro. She tells him that, if he rescues her, she will be his wife... Pamina, not Whitney! He falls in love with the young princess and tries to find her, but surprise, surprise, Sarastro is not evil at all. The monster here is the queen. Anyway, someone who works for Sarastro is the vicious Monostatos. He tries to impose himself on Pamina. Seriously. You don't believe me? OK, I will prove it. Pamina (Dalia Farouk) is asleep. Being the mother of two kids, this soprano has every right to get rest every now and then. She has left her baby girl Malak with the babysitter and her mum is looking after Galal who is exploring the opera wings. As Pamina takes a nap, Monostatos walks in and starts singing the lovely ‘Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden'. Doesn't it sound a lot like ‘Largo al factotum' from Rossini's ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia' (The Barber of Seville)? However, while Mozart's opera appeared in 1791, Rossini's one premiered in 1816. To cut it short, evil was banished and Pamina and Tamino lived happily ever after, in spite of having names that sound like cars! The plot involves so many characters like the three blue ladies, who were dressed in blue with blue wigs and makeup. They even killed a snake! There was also Papageno, the bird catcher, and A'mo Hosny, who makes horrible burgers which is why I never eat at his shop! There were three different casts and I attended one performance. Now, in no particular, order I will say what I think about the performers. So many soloists took part in this work and generally speaking the singing was good, but frankly I didn't really like the acting. I don't have much to say about the Cairo Opera Orchestra and Maestro Nayer Nagui, because, whenever he conducts, music sounds like music and not just a series of notes produced by instruments. Bravo, for the millionth time. Dalia, who played Pamina, was boring. Always being a wonderful singer is no fun. How will I give her a hard time and write nasty things about her when she is that good? As Queen of the Night, soprano Rasha Talaat gave good renditions of her arias, which are very hard to sing. Despite its brilliance, the second one, ‘Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen', sounded more like vocal training rather than an aria. Although it's about hatred and violence, it sounded very cheerful, as if Rasah were running through the park, clutching handfuls of balloons. The Three Ladies were played by soprano/lasagna maker Dina Iskander and mezzos Jolie Faizy and Laila Ibrahim. I will not comment on their performance until I see the menu! Anyway, it's always a pleasure to see Dina and Jolie perform. I loved the harmony provided by the Three Genii – sopranos Nada Hassan and Yamin Antar, with mezzo Nouresta El Merghany. Their role was a small one, but still their presence added a lot. Tenors Hisham El Guindy and Ibrahim Nagui – Tamino and Monostatos – have improved since the last time I heard them singing and that evening they were both really fine. Papageno, baritone Ezzat Ghanem, is a talented vocalist and I enjoyed his singing, but not the exaggerated sense of humour he imposed on the libretto. Veteran bass-baritone Abdel-Wahab El Sayed (Sarastro) did an excellent job, but didn't sound comfortable with the few extremely low notes. Another well-established star, bass singer Reda El Wakil, played three small roles (yes, three) and as usual excelled. As for my old friend and brother in arms, tenor Walid Korayem, he played two roles and was really good. It was nice to see him perform. Soprano Ingy Mohsen played only one role – she was Papagena and she will marry Papageno and next year they might have a baby called Papageni... maybe not. Finally, Hisham El-Tally, who played Hisham El-Tally, excelled and was very convincing being himself. Correction... being the director of this opera, I think he played the role of the director and what I like most about him is his new car. Seriously Hisham is a very hardworking and gifted artist, who takes care of all the fine details and that makes a big difference. He told me that he started working on this opera many months ago and his effort paid off. Congratulations Hisham. You are my favourite opera director. Everyone loved the stage settings and costumes. They were really impressive and a lot of effort went into them. The result was outstanding. As for the makeup, it was kind of scary but no matter how they try, nothing will frighten me... I have been to the opera before and still go there, even though I've heard some terrifying singing! Send me your blue wigs to: [email protected]
