Review- The Florentine’s Magic Flute.

   There isn’t a lot of the usual flora and fauna in William Florescu’s charming staging of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. In fact, Noele Stollmack’s tiered stage with moveable white panels resembles the exterior of the Marcus Center as much as an imagined world created on the Uihlein Hall stage. But the spare and elegant geometry played to the story’s simple charm. When Tamino (Ryan MacPherson) enters pursued by a snake, Stollmack gives us a huge projection of a centipede wriggling against the backdrop, and that sets the slightly campy tone for the rest of the opera.
    The Florentine Opera’s less-than-fussy setting also allowed the singers to step forward and the music to take center stage—which isn’t a bad idea, particularly with such a talented cast. At Sunday’s matinee performance—the third in less than 48 hours—MacPherson, Heather Buck (Queen of the Night), Craig Verm (Papageno), and Pamina (Ava Pine), sang beautifully and told the story well (here in Andrew Porter’s English translation).
   There were lots of kids in the audience, and MacPherson’s vocal clarity made this a great “first opera” for the initiates in the audience. Pine’s gorgeous lyricism gave the Pamina and Tamino romance its spark. And Buck not only nailed her challenging second aria (on Friday night she apparently missed by that much), but found its desparate and genuinely scary and darkness as well. The trio of queen’s Ladies found balance and nuance in the Mozart’s lovely harmonic writing.
    Joseph Rescigno and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra brought great spirit and precision to the music, particularly in the strings’ articulation of Mozart’s skittering lines.