Baltimore.(Die Zauberflote)

The English music critic Neville Cardus thought that Mozart's Die Zauberflote was the only opera "in existence that might conceivably have been composed by God." The work's ethereal charms shone through in the Baltimore Opera Company's production (seen Dec. 12 at the Lyric Opera House), even if the singing was not necessarily celestial. The most consistent quality in the performance was the cast's natural, vivid acting style and firm sense of ensemble; the ease carried over into the spoken dialogue, delivered conversationally, without affectation. This was perhaps the most obvious benefit of Werner Herzog's direction, which was, on the whole, traditional and straightforward. His pacing was gently propulsive; humorous moments were well-timed, reflective ones neatly judged. Other than a lot of crocodiles (serving as the Tamino-threatening monster and the Tamino-tamed creatures later on), the staging's most interesting visual element may have been a little in-joke from Herzog. This was the recurring image of laborers in the background heave-ho-ing on ropes to pull a massive object, not unlike the men in his 1982 movie, Fitzcarraldo, who dragged a boat over a mountain in the Amazonian jungle. In the final scene, the audience finally saw what was at the end of those ropes -- an obelisk, raised into place to provide a neat complement to the reinforcement of all the opera's uptight virtues.

The action unfolded on Maurizio Balo's relatively simple, Egyptian-flavored set, framed by massive boulders; the predominant earth tones were shared by Franz Blumauer's muted costumes. Donald Edmund Thomas provided the atmospheric lighting, with its nocturnal shades gradually giving way to the light of Sarastro. In that role, Alexander Anisimov made a physically imposing presence (a fanciful headdress, looking like the hair on a Troll doll, added another few ...