Surprised and Delighted …
Last night was my first night at the Florida Grand Opera …
I’ve been an opera fan since my mid-teens.
My fascination with, and love of, opera began, decades ago, with “Carmen” …
… it nearly ended there.
Or, at least, “Carmen” delineates, exemplifies, and punctuates both the best and worst (or perhaps most disappointing) operatic experiences I’ve had. And that’s despite the Seattle Opera’s enviable, and well deserved, reputation, and many productions enjoyed there.
Last night was … unexpected.
There are many wonderful cultural aspects to Florida (despite all the “Florida Man” perspectives). In particular, Latin American influences on music, dance (Tango, here, is … I don’t have words …), and food, are rich, colorful, incredibly varied and unfailingly delightful. Though it is certainly not limited to those styles.
Seattle certainly had a wider gamut, and where the classics are concerned a deeper repertoire (or attracted a more expansive range of productions).
I digress …
To this point (nearly four years now), I had not managed to attend the Florida Grand Opera. Which is, for me, the oddest arrangement … it puts on three, maybe four, productions in a season. Those run, in Miami at least, for just three performances (with another two in Fort Lauderdale).
So, I have to say, I wasn’t expecting a lot.
And I was wrong.
So very wrong.
In every important respect.
Last night’s production of “The Magic Flute” was fantastic.
Different, creative, to be sure … with a modern overlay that, at first, had me thinking “Oh no, not again”; its fantastical settings projected within the context of modern(ish) youth and a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
But … magnificent.
I’ve seen about a dozen productions of this, around the world, and I think this is my favorite. It’s certainly the most creative, with very clever effects and use of physical stage/sets and projected imagery.
And it was completely accessible to any level of operatic inquistif.
“The Magic Flute” is a very accessible* opera to begin with (despite being in German), being full of fantastic creatures, adventure, a classic love/rescue trope, and, of course, its comedic nature and singspiel arrangement.
In this particular case, the “spiel” elements reverted to English, with the “sing” in the original German.
Honestly … brilliant.
And if this is, in anyway, typical of the FGO … then their production of “Carmen”, in April 2025 is going to be a real treat.
…
I’m always going to have a special reverence for the “great” Opera houses (and especially Covent Garden, Vienna, Venice, and several here in the US even) … but this was just not unexpectedly wonderful … but absolutely fantastic in its own right.
Amadeus
On a related note, being a Mozart piece (Die Zauberflöte), it triggered rewatching my absolute favorite movie, “Amadeus**”.
Last time I watched that it was at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, the movie being projected while a live orchestra played the actual score.
*That it is relatively short for an opera, just two acts, helps here.
**Though it bears little to no resemblance to actual history and which contains much that is apocryphal or, at least, wildly inaccurate.