ON FLUTE, ON POINT, ON TARGET

While I was on a Youth kick, I caught a morning performance of an abridged version of The Magic Flute, collaboration between San Diego City Ballet and Classics for Kids. The piece was created (and choreographed by Elizabeth Wistrich) in 2001, but it was perfect for the 2006 year-long San Diego celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday. (Did you know that San Diego is staging the largest, multi-company, cross-medium celebration in North America? Amazing!). Anyway, for each of the past eight years, City Ballet and Classics for Kids have collaborated on an educational production (actually this year, they presented two – “Adventures in Color” in November and The Magic Flute this month). During this run, there will be a total of eight shows (at the Birch North Park Theatre and the California Center for the Arts Escondido) that will reach 8000 elementary school children; there’s also one public performance. During the coming weekend, which is Mozart’s actual birthday, City Ballet will present three performances of The Magic Flute and the “Concerto for Flute and Harp.”
 
I was blown away by the high quality of this production. Every detail and aspect was spectacular. The 27-musicians-strong Classics for Kids Philharmonic, under the assured direction of Dana Mambourg (who introduced the piece to the 750 squirmy but incredibly attentive kids in the Birch Theatre), sounded lively, confident and robust, with especially excellent flute solos by Ann Erwin. The dancers were marvelous – particularly the leaps and entrechats  of Timothy Coleman as Prince Tamino and the beautiful point-work of Mira Cook as Princess Pamina. Gerardo Gil exhibited delightful skill and humor as the cowardly bird-catcher, Papageno. The animals and helpers/guides, mostly on point, were graceful and lovely, sporting the imaginative costumes of David Heuvel and Tamlin Henahan, with fanciful masks by Clark Mires (long time no see at the theater!). The singers were outstanding: Lisa Archibeque, so vocally powerful as Yum-Yum in Lyric Opera’s recent Mikado, brings her glorious soprano to the role of Pamina. San Diego native Renee Calvo (a member of the San Diego Opera Chorus) does lovely work as the loving Papagena. Abdiel Gonzalez displays a rich, lush baritone as her beloved, Papageno. Tenor Randall Bills is fine as Tomino; Barbara Tobler does a marvelous job with the vocal complexities and coloratura turns of the Queen of the Night.   

The only complaint is that the condensed version made the (already tricky and inconsistent) plotline even murkier. Good thing the schools were given source material to review with the students in advance; it’s hard to believe they’d be able to follow the storyline cold. But overall, the production was very true to the source: magical, fanciful – and proof positive that love and music conquer all.
Through January 24, at the Birch North Park Theatre and California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
-Pat Launer, San Diego Theatre Critic