Word: papageno
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...left to the operagoer's imagination. The three little boys who act as Tamino's guardian angels arrived and departed in a dirigible. Occasionally, Ustinov indulged in his love of sight gags, and not always to good effect; there were some murmurs from the audience when Papageno made his first entrance from the prompter's box. But Heinz Joachim in Die Welt summed up the critics' response: "At long last the Hamburg State Opera has cleaned out both the antiquated conceptions and modern profundity that block the view of Mozart's Magic Flute...
...cast, looking vaguely lost in Chagall's vast fantascapes, nonetheless performed elegantly. Mozart Specialist Josef Krips conducted manfully against the visual competition, and Baritone Hermann Prey's comical Papageno was as close to a show stealer as the conditions would permit. Chagall's whimsical spectacular notwithstanding, there was too much art and not enough Mozart...
...second disappointment was the all-American cast. For once, the Met stage was peopled by young, handsome, slender performers. But their Juilliard-type excellence somehow did not thrill. Baritone Theodor Uppman tried hardest and succeeded best as Papageno, the comical birdman; partly thanks to Ruth and Thomas Martin's competent translation, he put across his role with almost Broadway-like punch. Soprano Lucine Amara (Pamina) sang beautifully, and Roberta Peters (Queen of the Night) did her bell-like best despite a cold. But Tenor Brian Sullivan (Tamino) was dry-voiced and stiff-backed; Basso Jerome Hines, while...
...that gave the new Flute its real magic. Mozart's mystical fantasy of free masonry unfolded among three Egyptian temple arches of flesh-pink, violet, cerulean blue, turquoise, cobalt and yellow. The middle arch was framed by black sketches of symbolic heads, and its opening revealed projected landscapes. Papageno was dressed in a brilliant green feather coat, brick-red vest and yellow trousers, while the chorus of priests appeared in explosive shades of orange...
...wasn't much interested in opera, but I thought it would be fun"), was more surprised than anybody else when he won. Since a contract with the company was part of the prize, "that sort of threw me into opera." He gradually worked into leading roles: Papageno in the Magic Flute, Golaud in Pelléas and Mélisande...