Волшебная Флейта

My first opera! I'm still basking in the afterglow; this may be a bit impressionistic.

Papagero! Prince Tamino stands on the stage, looking pointedly up into the audience. I notice the audience looking up behind me, and Papagero is coming down the aisle, toting feathery boxes on a long pole balanced on his head. He strides up onto the edge of the balcony, directly in front of me, and strides back and forth, singing and swinging the boxes around. (A lady in the row behind smacked one of them.) This is just the beginning for Papagero: Later, he accepts a giant glass of wine from the conductor and passes it around the audience. I don't *think* anyone had a drink. Still later, he and Papagena took two children out of the audience and brought them up on stage. Really, he was an absolute show-stealer.

Speaking of the audience: The Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall is in the round, with seats on all sides of the stage. This includes several rows of benches that are actually on-stage, which is where those lucky kids were sitting. They brought them back out for the curtain call; their applause was only rivaled by Papagero's and the Queen of the Night's.

Speaking of the Queen: what pipes! There is simply no way that I'll be able to describe what she did with her voice. It was preternaturally beautiful--it gave me chills. If I wasn't looking at her on stage, I don't know if I would've believed that it was a real human voice.

The production was fairly sparse, but no less beautiful for it. In addition to Papagero, Pamina came down the aisle on my side, dropping her parasol just next to me, and the chorus lined the aisles on both sides, right up to where I was sitting. (NB: Opera, when performed directly into your ear, is quite loud.)

Between the acts, the percussionist gave a little impromptu demonstration/lecture about his various instruments, which started with just a small group and, by the third bell, had a substantial chunk of the audience gathered around him. It was, in general, a fairly intimate, relaxed venue. There were quite a few empty seats behind the stage; I don't know how it looked behind me.

I didn't count the curtain calls, but there were several. Never in my life have I wanted to shout "Bravo!" quite so much, but I was a bit afraid of looking ridiculous. Bravo was shouted, but I believe it was shouted by the performers themselves. Interestingly, the applause synchronized and stayed that way throughout the curtain calls--I'm not sure if this is a Russian thing, an opera thing, or just an odd happening at this performance.

In short: It was wonderful. My only regrets are not being able to understand more of it--it was performed in Russian--and that it wasn't a bit more of a Giant Spectacle sort of opera. I'm looking forward to the organ concert, also at the Concert Hall, and must admit that this is not likely to be my last opera. It might well be the last one I get into for $20, though…