Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Die Zauberflote at the Met

This past Saturday I went to see the lovely, lovely Julie Taymor production of lovely, lovely Mozart's Die Zauberflote. The cast was as follows...

Tamino-Matthew Polenzani
Pamina-Nicole Heaston
Papageno- Rodion Pogossov
Papagena- Monica Yunus
Sarastro- Rene Pape
The Queen of the Night- Erika Miklosa
Monostatos- Volker Vogel
Speaker- Robert Lloyd
Conductor- Scott Bergeson

Now, there is only one thing I have to complain about in this production. It is that I have nothing to complain about. I have become very picky about my singers. Every tenor is "Oh, he's no Domingo" and every soprano is "Gosh, Eva Marton sang that so much better." However, with this cast I could not find one singer that I thought didn't belong. Bravo to the Met and to the singers! Rene Pape was a dream, especially in that amazing costume, I'm not sure if anyone else likes it, but I thought it was cool! Seriously, he is one of the best basses of all time. His voice is so powerful and so rich that it was larger than life to hear him live, in person, on stage, with him RIGHT THERE in our faces. Wow...totally brilliant. Erika Miklosa, with her equally amazing costume, was an unbelievable Queen of the Night. Every high note was effortless and her famous aria was flawless. I would definitely love to hear her again. Matthew Polenzani was incredible as was Nicole Heaston. Rodion Pogossov was a lovely and adorable Papageno with all the character's flaws and comedy interpreted perfectly.

I want to see this production next season, and the season after that, and the season after that (with the same cast, of course), and the season after that, and the season after that, and...

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