Die Zauberflöte with just seven young singers, two actors, no stage hands, no set but a copse of thin movable bamboo poles, and a piano in place of an orchestra? It can be done! "A Magic Flute," Peter Brooks' last production at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, is also the opener of the Lincoln Center Festival. It's spare and witty, charming and very intimate. Sometimes the bemused French dialogue gave it the feel of an Eric Rohmer film. If it didn't blow me away completely it's because (a) I'm used to poor theater (tho' this was of course top-rate) and (b) stripping away the special effects makes the story's misogyny hard to ignore.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Bezaubernd schön
Die Zauberflöte with just seven young singers, two actors, no stage hands, no set but a copse of thin movable bamboo poles, and a piano in place of an orchestra? It can be done! "A Magic Flute," Peter Brooks' last production at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, is also the opener of the Lincoln Center Festival. It's spare and witty, charming and very intimate. Sometimes the bemused French dialogue gave it the feel of an Eric Rohmer film. If it didn't blow me away completely it's because (a) I'm used to poor theater (tho' this was of course top-rate) and (b) stripping away the special effects makes the story's misogyny hard to ignore.