From left, Paige Porter, Evelyn Rossow, and Susan Wheeler are the three ladies in waiting attending the arrival of the Queen of the Night in the Hubbard Hall Opera Theater’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute Aug. 8-19.
Cambridge, NY — Papageno, Papagena and The Queen of the Night return as Hubbard Hall Opera Theater (HHOT) presents Mozart’s family favorite, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), in six performances Aug. 8-19 on Hubbard Hall’s mainstage at 25 E. Main Street. Performances, fully costumed and staged with a 19-piece orchestra, will be sung in German (with supertitles) and spoken in English.
Directed by Paul Houghtaling, a Schenectady native now teaching, directing and singing across the country, and conducted by Kelly Crandell, back with HHOT by popular demand, the curtain will go up Aug. 8 (pay-what-you-will), 10, 11, and 16 at 8 p.m. and Aug. 18-19 at 2 p.m. Tickets, at $30 general admission, $25 members, and $20 students, may be obtained at www.hubbardhall.org or by calling the box office at 518-677-2495. Significant ticket discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.
On Sunday, Aug. 19, preceding the matinee performance, a Viennese brunch will be served at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $35 per person, and may be reserved by calling 518-677-2495. In addition, the Cambridge Village Store (where all proceeds benefit Hubbard Hall) will serve complimentary champagne with any purchase prior to each performance.
HHOT Artistic Director Alix Jones calls The Magic Flute “a classic operatic fantasy” and “a perfect choice for introducing children to opera.” “Mozart wrote it for the masses just before he died; there’s spoken dialogue, comedy, battles between good and evil, and wonderful music. It’s filled with fairy tale characters who don’t seem to know exactly who they are, where they’re going, or what they’re going to do when they get there, including a couple who fall madly in love before they’ve even met. The whole affair seems crazy, confusing, haphazard and often just downright silly. In that respect, it’s a lot like life, and maybe that’s why it’s been one of Mozart’s most popular and beloved works.”
The Cast
Tenor Brian J. Kuhl, hailing from a bustling career in the Midwest, leads the cast as Tamino, with Andrew Pardini from the University of Maryland Opera Studio offering audiences a warm comic baritone in an up-and-coming voice not to be missed. Mary Thorne, a veteran of the New York City opera scene, makes her HHOT debut as Pamina, alongside Brooke Schooley, who has been hailed as the Queen of the Night with a “marvelous soaring voice, florid runs and wonderful acting.” Susan Wheeler, who has sung at Carnegie Hall, The Wolf Trap Center and the Kennedy Center, joins HHOT as First Lady alongside the young Evelyn Rossow, a recent recipient of the Encouragement Award in the Kansas City District of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions, and international artist Amber Smoke, who has been praised for her “rich and mellow voice” and joins us directly from Germany.
About Hubbard Hall Opera Theater (HHOT)
Founded in 2008 by Jones, HHOT recently was named a semi-finalist to receive The American Prize for Opera Performance, Community Division, for its 2011 production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. HHOT has presented three other critically acclaimed productions with orchestra, Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte (2008); Bizet/Brooks’s La Tragedie de Carmen (2009); and Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel (2010). The upcoming season includes Guerilla Opera’s Heart of a Dog in September with chamber orchestra, a traveling La Boheme production in October with piano, and a February 2013 orchestra production of Verdi’s La Traviata in the GE Theater at Proctor’s.
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