SUZANNE FIORE
Yohji Daquio played The Queen of the Night in Undead Arts’ production of “The Magic Flute.”
A family-friendly version of New Jersey Symphony’s “Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute),” presented on May 2-3 at The Harborside Atrium in Jersey City, had an imaginative start. Before the May 2 performance began, cast members walked through the aisles in full character, interacting with the audience — made up, mostly, of families with young children.
The Symphony, which does not do opera often, has found a fun partner in Undead Arts, a Jersey City nonprofit whose mission is to make art and culture accessible to all; children 18 and younger attend all performances free of charge. Little surprise that both performances — which featured an ensemble of Symphony musicians, led by conductor Gregory D. McDaniel — were sold out.
The collaboration seemed to signify what is to come for the Symphony as it transitions into its new headquarters in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District, slated to open in 2027. The Symphony Center will host activities with local artists and students, expanding the Symphony’s artistic, education and community reach into Hudson County.
Mozart’s 1791 masterpiece — a fantastical tale of enchanted instruments, witches and magic spells — suits Undead Arts’ campy, offbeat style. The organization was founded in 2025 by Catriona Rubenis-Stevens, Molly Dunn and Katy Gardiner, the same trio behind Zombie Opera, an annual Halloween event that features opera arias and is now in its seventh year.
“Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)” is a Singspiel, a form of 18th-century German musical drama that alternates long stretches of spoken dialogue with singing. With a running time of about three hours, the German-language libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder is often boiled down, as it was here by Bea Goodwin and Heath Rumble. Their 100-minute, English-language libretto was sometimes close to Schikaneder’s original dialogue, but often not. Story-wise, it was set in a modern day, fictional summer camp called Camp Starlight in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens.
JEN BROWN
Edward Washington II as Tamino and Brenna Markey as Pamina in “The Magic Flute.”
The orchestra was reduced to about 30 musicians, which gave an intimate, chamberlike sound to an opera that is usually staged grandly. McDaniel, the Symphony’s 2025-26 Colton Conducting Fellow, kept perfect control with steady tempos and precise detail. Too bad the overture was cut after the three opening chords, making an abrupt jump into Tamino fleeing the serpent — reimagined as The Jersey Devil, though it was never actually seen. In Act II, one of the Devil’s shorn horns was given to Pamina by her mother, the Queen of the Night, to kill the priest Sarastro. (In the original libretto, it is a sharpened dagger.)
Some characters had doppelgängers, including The Queen (the camp owner) and the Queen’s bird catcher Papageno (the camp director), who introduced the plot in a prelude: Facing threats by the rival Camp Wolfgang, they were being forced out of business. Starlight’s downcast campers found an enchanted paper fortune teller that transported them into the opera. Acting as a Greek Chorus, they interacted with the principals and provided commentary. Rounding them out was a mixed children’s choir from the Rising Voices program of Jersey City’s public schools.
Being that this was a kids’ version, the work’s more mature themes were glossed over, including most of the Freemason allegories. Both Mozart and Schikaneder had ties to the society, and the libretto includes many references. The result was more like light opera crossed with musical comedy. (The most amusing revamp had to do with Monostatos, a character who is in dire need of it. In the libretto he is a Turkish Moor, villainous and lecherous, and the traits are tied to his ethno-racial identity.)
Holden Green made the best of a small role as a high-energy arts and crafts counselor with a penchant for knitting. In his first scene, he knitted a small gray scarf; as the opera progressed, his knitting projects became more elaborate and colorful. He kept trying to dress everyone in his creations. In the “Alles fühlt der Liebe freuden” song, his character sneaks up to the sleeping Pamina to steal a kiss. Here, instead, he tried to drape a scarf over her shoulders. By the time the finale rolled around, the Queen and her Ladies were all decked out in his colorful creations.
JEN BROWN
Matthew Ciuffitelli as Papageno in “The Magic Flute.”
Matthew Ciuffitelli’s upbeat Papageno had depth of character and vocal presence. A charismatic “Der Vogelfänger,” which introduced his service to the Queen, was accompanied by puppeteers flying large paper cranes over the audience. Faces lit up with excitement and awe. After the aria, when Tamino asked him who he was, Papageno broke the fourth wall, saying, “I’m a birdman. Didn’t you just hear that beautiful little song I sang?”
His “Bei Männern” duet with Pamina (praising the joys of love between husband and wife) was cut, but he got his “Ein Mädchen” aria about finding his perfect partner, which was Aja Brimm’s charming and radiantly-voiced Papagena, the camp’s administrator. During their duet about their future life with baby chicks, the children’s choir came out in orange baseball caps adorned with yellow pompoms, flapping their arms like birds. The kids were also Monostatos’ slaves and did a traditional little dance, enchanted by Papageno’s bells. Another charming moment came during the March, in which Pamina and Tamino encountered the tests of fire and water with the children holding paper cutouts of waves and flames.
Edward Washington II made a suave but down-to-earth Tamino with no sign of haughtiness or nobility. His love-at-first-sight aria “Dies Bildnis” was sung with delicate lyricism and clarity of diction. His exchanges with The Speaker (sung firmly yet lyrically by Reever Julian) and his solo with the flute in the Act I finale were graceful and ardent.
Brenna Markey, as Pamina, showed off the strengths of her middle voice and command of a finely sustained line. In the “Ach, ich fühl’s” aria, she contemplates suicide after Tamino refuses to speak to her; she does not know that his silence is part of his trial. Enter the Three Spirits to lift her up. The libretto calls for three boys, although it is sometimes sung by female voices. On May 2 it was sung by a fine trio of teenage girls — Evangeline Lalande, Sophie Gaeta and Maeve George — all of whom showed a convincing range of emotion and expressiveness. At the end of Pamina’s aria, one of them even threw her a supportive little wave as they parted.
The opera’s other trio, the Three Ladies, were Starlight staffers: First Lady (Undead Arts co-founder Dunn) was the janitor; Second Lady (Kelsey Robertson) was the nurse; and Third Lady (Rachelle Pike) was the cook. They brought lots of verve to the expanded trio, fighting over who will guard the passed-out prince, and were radiant in both quintets.
Yohji Daquio gave the Queen big attitude and a megawatt presence that easily made the young singer feel like the tyrannical monarch. She made good work of the demanding vocal acrobatics, mostly sailing through the fiery, coloratura heights of her famous revenge aria “Der Hölle Rache” and the legato cadenzas of “O zittre nicht.”
JEN BROWN
Patrick Scully as Sarastro in “The Magic Flute.”
Sarastro also gets two big, demanding arias of remarkable vocal range, and Patrick Scully pulled them off with even, legato tones and subtle contrasts. “O Isis und Osiris,” a prayer for Tamino’s guidance (and yes, he hit that low F with ease) and “In diesen heil’gen Hallen,” a call for love over revenge, were both sung in clean and authoritative voice.
As a clever play on Sarastro’s Temple of the Sun, the Men in Armor (Cristóbal Arias and Sung Shin) were camp lifeguards with sunglasses, zinc on their cheeks and golden shields. Because the roles of the Priests were cut, they and The Speaker took on some of their parts. All three played it with an outspoken New Jersey attitude, adding an off-the-cuff feel to the usually subdued roles.
While the work’s supreme sense of balance, order and clarity was not always present, key themes still came through, including reconciliation. Sarastro’s heart is melted by the compassion he has seen and, instead of banishing the Queen (and her consort) to eternal darkness, she is kept alive. Camp Starlight is saved and the two shake hands in truce.
As a camper said in the epilogue, “See you next summer!” We can only hope for another collaboration by then.
For more about Undead Arts, visit undeadarts.org.
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