Lara Rotili / Рецензии

There is a moment near the end of Davide Livermore’s “Die Zauberflöte” at Muscat’s Royal Opera House of Musical Arts in which Tamino and Pamino must face the trials by fire and water with the magic flute in tow. But Livermore opts for a very different trial – the two lovers must come to terms with the death of their older selves in order to fully appreciate the love they have for each other. As staged, this moment features doubles of each character in older makeup to express these more mature forms. Both Tamino and Pamina of the present recognize these forms as each other but fail to notice the difference in age until they watch these beloved selves dying on the ground. It is a symbolic moment that opens up a great deal of questions about intention, especially given the context of the production’s origination in Oman. Is the final trial the realization for these characters that they are bound to one another until death do them part? Or is something else afoot? There’s no denying that the part engages intellectually and even emotionally, as the characters ultimately overcome the sadness of losing each other to find one another at the end, ready to live happily ever after.