SOME MAGIC IS ADDED, SOME MAGIC IS TAKEN AWAY
South Africa’s Isango Ensemble is undoubtedly full of talented actors, singers, and musicians, but doesn’t quite have the specialized skills required to pull of Mozart’s masterful The Magic Flute (Impempe Yomlingo). While the production doesn’t aim for a straightforward rendering of the original, it does retain much of the story and music, albeit with a tribal flavor. Gone are the strings, horns, and flutes of Mozart’s classical instrumentation. Instead, co-musical directors Pauline Malefane and Mandisi Dyantis have opted for an orchestra of marimbas of varying sizes and tonal registers, a range of African drums, and the curious rendering of the titular flute’s music by a silver trumpet. Sung primarily in English, there are no supertitles to read, but one often wishes that there were given the South African dialect. Indeed, you will be hard-pressed to understand a majority of the lyrics.
A South African production of The Magic Flute might seem like an odd cultural pairing, but there are some congruencies. As adapter, director, and writer, Isango Ensemble co-founder Mark Dornford-May notes, there is a Tsonga tradition relating to birds, a storm, and an enchanted flute that shares much with Emanuel Schikaneder’s German libretto. There is also a similarity in the mixed composition of the Isango Ensemble—comprising artists of varied skill—and Schikaneder’s theatrical troupe, for whom Mozart composed his score. That is why he was able to write extraordinarily difficult roles for the Queen of the Night and Sarastro, yet rather simpler parts for Papageno and Papagena.
Fortunately, Isango has an impressively talented bass in Ayanda Eleki, who amply fills the role of Sarastro. Monumental in height and profound in depth of voice, Eleki obviously has the range, technique, diction, and presence to command. Pauline Malefane’s Queen of the Night is no match for him. Her rendition of the famous aria “Der hölle rache” is bland and lackluster. Malefane seems so focused on getting the 
notes right—admittedly a difficult enough task—that she fails to imbue her voice with that vengeance of hell of which she sings. Mhlekazi (Wha Wha) Mosiea as Tamino is similarly out of his depth, but he has enough youthful sincerity that the audience wants to root for him anyway. Zamile Gantana’s Papageno provides a welcome comic foil to Mosiea’s earnest Tamino.
The cast really comes alive, however, on those occasions when they dance and make South African-style music. Most commonly used as incidental music when transitioning scenes, call-and-response songs and full-throated gospel harmonies grow in frequency throughout the second half. This reviewer was hoping to hear much more of it than he did. The production’s overall tone is far too exuberant and playful for the passions and trials of its characters. There is some admirable rethinking here, but it doesn’t make The Magic Flute any more compelling. And trying to discern the lyrics can be positively enervating.
photos by Keith Pattison
The Magic Flute (Impempe Yomlingo)
Young Vic production by Isango Ensemble
The Broad Stage
Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center
1310 11th St. in Santa Monica
scheduled to end on October 12, 2014
for tickets, call 310.434.3200 or visit www.thebroadstage.com