Stop the circus! In 2018, Lydia Steier got involved in veritable contradictions with her production of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” at the Salzburg Festival, not least because of an overloaded aesthetic. Festival director Markus Hinterhäuser has now given Steier the chance to revise her direction. And since Saturday evening it has been clear: it was worth it. Steier manages to condense her circus work more concisely by omitting show effects. The move from the Great Festival Hall to the much smaller House for Mozart played a large part in this.
Steier’s basic concept remains, in that the libretto of the Mozart/Schikaneder opera continues to form the framework. The grandfather (Roland Koch) of an upper-class family tells the story to his three grandchildren as a bedtime story. This has the pleasant side effect that Koch takes over the majority of the speaking passages – for which one is grateful in view of the singers, who often speak at the level of a nativity scene. The entire “Magic Flute” world thus originates in the villa, which extends over two levels, of the child’s imagination, the hysterical mother is equated with the Queen of the Night. Tamino is a tin soldier, and the butcher’s son becomes Papageno. The cuddly toys also get an appearance.
Steier, who was born in the USA in 1978 and now lives in Europe, does a better job with the director’s cut this time because she also provides philosophical questions about the work. The misogyny of the opera is discussed as well as the men’s lust for war. Joana Mallwitz (*1986) reveals herself to be a shooting star as conductor of the Philharmoniker. It starts out provocatively slowly, only to increase symbiotically with the staging at times insane speeds.
Regula Mühlemann is a beautiful Pamina, Michael Nagl a charming, creamy Papageno, and the fact that Tareq Nazmi moved up from the supporting role to the bass-strong Sarastro after 2018 turns out to be a stroke of luck. The other group is led by the young Swiss Mauro Peter as Tamino, who also wobbles in height this time. As Queen of the Night, Brenda Rae is fortunate that, unlike her predecessor in 2018, she does not have to wear a squirrel helmet, which does not help her to elegantly master the breakneck game.
Conclusion: Together with the Vienna Philharmonic, the German conductor Joana Mallwitz created Lydia Steier’s second attempt at directing as a musical event.
Source: Nachrichten
