Steampunk ‘Magic Flute’ returns to Tucson with cinematic twist

When the company revisited “Magic Flute” to close out its 2022-23 season on Saturday, April 15, director Tara Faircloth tapped video projection designer Michael Salvatore Commendatore to create a visual component that took Rigazzi’s steampunk version to a whole new and exciting level.

We no longer had to imagine birds scattering when Papageno (baritone Schyler Vargas) played his penny whistle. A large screen taking up the back end of the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall stage projected the treetops and birds flying right down to their whistles and the sounds of rustling leaves. 

When the Queen of the Night (soprano Katrina Galka), who sported a headset crown and wings, first appeared, thunder crashed with a startling thud and brilliant flashes of lightening lit up ominous clouds, taking you into the heart of a storm with evil intentions.

The projections swallowed the stage in a thick forest that Papageno and Tamino (tenor Terrence Chin-Loy) navigated in search of the Queen’s daughter Pamina (soprano Tiffany Choe). In one scene, Tamino and Pamina had to walk on water and then fire to reach a glowing tunnel leading them to the Temple of Wisdom. 

Faircloth’s decision to add the cinematic projections took Rigazzi’s vision to an exciting new level, creating an entirely contemporary twist to an opera that has stood the test of centuries. 

The projections also added to the humor of Mozart’s fairytale about a pipe-playing bird and a wayward prince trying to rescue a kidnapped princess from the Queen’s adversary Sarastro (baritone Matthew Anchel). The prince, given a photo of Pamina by her mother, falls instantly in love. Papageno is a reluctant participant in the search, but he confesses he, too, would like to find love. For either to achieve their happy endings, they must not say a word to their love interests on their journey to the Temple.

The cast on Saturday was stacked with several current and past members of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio program in leading roles, including the sublime lyric tenor Chin-Loy, who was with the program from 2020-22, and Choe and Vargas, who are current members. The young artists did the program proud on Saturday, the day after its benefactor died on Friday, according to Arizona Opera President and General Director Joseph Specter. Choe’s powerful soprano reached glorious heights with ease, and Vargas showed off some serious comedic skill, including in the scene where he gets the girl Papagena (soprano Grace Kahl), and the couple suddenly adds a half-dozen baby birds (played by a group of kids who were too cute for words) to their nest. 

Galka’s performance was a masterclass in soprano coloratura as the singer, making her first appearance with Arizona Opera since 2016, exhibited heart-pounding, exciting trills that prompted one guy a few rows from the stage to shout “brava” before she was finished singing.

The orchestra, conducted by James Lowe, brought out all the beauty and humor of Mozart’s score, including a wonderfully sublime reading of the familiar overture.   

Arizona Opera repeated the performance on Sunday, April 16.