| The Magic Flute |
| Los
Angeles Review by Willard Manus The South African opera company, Isango Ensemble, recently made a brief but memorable visit to the Broad Stage with its inventive and joyous production of Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE. Adapted and directed by Mark Dornford-May, this MAGIC FLUTE melded elements from Mozart’s score with African choral tradition. Certain classic characters like Papageno, Sarastro and Queen of the Night were retained, but given an African makeover. The story was transposed to Cape Town as well and the score was played on an array of marimbas, drums and bells. The arias were sung in a mixture of English, Xhosa and other African languages. The result was a MAGIC FLUTE like none other before it. Among the
outstanding performers and singers were Pauline Malefane (co-founder of
Isango) as Queen of the Night, Mandisi Dyanyis as the horn- (not flute)tooting
music director, Mhlekazi Mosiea and Zolina Ngejane as the young lovers.
Ayanda Tikolo also made a powerful impression as the tribal leader Sarastro,
especially when he took on the opera’s famous aria “In diesen
heil’gen Hallen” and turned it into a stirring African freedom
anthem. |