Josh Cadji

State Hornet

Though never regarded as the most lovely of languages, youcan’t help but adore the German serenades in Wolfgang AmadeusMozart’s opera “Die Zauberflote,” or morecommonly known in English as “The Magic Flute.” Thepassionate, yet cleverly silly fairytale-like opera drops you offin Egypt, where you get bombarded not by locusts, frogs and hail,but by smitten characters of love, heart and eventually,happiness.

Cast with almost exclusively Sacramento State students, theopera plays through Saturday on campus.

Premiering in 1791, “The Magic Flute” wasMozart’s last major completed work; the librettist (author ofthe words of an opera) was Emanuel Schikaneder.

A musical drama set in two acts, “The Magic Flute”tells the story of a young prince by the name of Tamino (played byTimothy Pastore) who sets out on an adventure with his wacky,bird-catching sidekick, Papageno, to rescue his love-interest,Pamina, from the evil claws of the High Priest of Isis and Osiris,Sarastro. All this, conveniently enough, is due to the Queen of theNight’s (wonderfully played by Heather Holzapfel) request ofTamino to save her daughter, Pamina. She even gives him a magicflute to help with his heroic journey.

Although staggeringly long at two-and-a-half hours, the operakeeps you entertained, for the most part, with a contorted plot andbeautifully German-sung arias. With the help of super titles totranslate, it was easy to follow along, as only the singing wasdone in German, the dialogue being in English.

The cutesy fairytale allows you to get swept away into the magicand imagination of Mozart. Thanks to the focused vision of directorLynn Stradley, we get a taste of a far away land that people intheir sober minds have never seen before.

Even as the goofy, comic sidekick to Tamino, Papageno steals theshow as he captures the hearts of the audience during thepacked-house performance. With a costume draped with thousands ofmulti-colored cloth feathers, Papageno wanders through lifesearching for love. “If no one will grant me love, then theflame must consume me,” swoons a sorrowed Papageno. Theaudience seems willing to give Papageno their hearts, though itbecomes evident towards the end that maybe, just maybe, the birdcatcher will find the love he’s sought after for so long.

Though the ending was somewhat dilapidated, starting to linger alittle too long, the cast piqued the attention of many with itsexuberant and romantic re-enactment of the finale to Mozart’sprized opera.

With dancing melodies and streaming winds of sound, theorchestra perfectly set the mood for the unorthodox German opera,as most at the time were done in Italian.

Strangely enough, German suited the opera perfectly, and eventhe biggest opera purists would agree that “The MagicFlute” is better off that way rather than with thecommonplace Italian of the time.

Although all parts were sung well enough throughout the opera,Holzapfel stole the show with her series of immaculate arias whileflawlessly playing Queen of the Night. The role of the queen wasthe most demanding vocally because of the wide range of the F notethe soprano singer had to cover throughout the entirety of theopera. Time after time, Holzapfel hit each note perfectly withgrace and elegance, even garnering the loudest round of applauseafter the show.

With a talented cast “The Magic Flute” is anentertaining whirlwind of magic and love, innocence and happiness,showcasing some of the brightest young actors and actresses, andtheir beautiful German voices as well.