The League of Just Us

My friends, it has been a weekend of daring feats here at HGO. We have put on two MAGIC FLUTES and an ABDUCTION in the space of 72 hours! Not only was that a lot of Mozart (and a lot of German dialogue), it was an incredible survey of the following:

XTREME RANGE!! We had Konstanze, Blonde, and the Queen of the Night at one extreme, Sarastro and Osmin at the other. This meant high and low Ds, Es, and Fs everywhere! These folks were truly able to leap tall octaves in a single bound. More than that, they got major style points in addition to their athleticism. High notes alternately sexy, scary, elegant, and generous; low notes alternately blustering, warm, threatening, reassuring.

MAD MULTITASKING!! Two, count them two, men who can sing and play wind instruments at the same time. OK, EC was faking it, but I've never seen anyone pay as much attention to a flute as he without making actual noise. This weekend, people at HGO sang while

-moving potted palms

-flying through the air in a cage

-making martinis

-being undressed, being dressed, balancing enormous gear on their heads

-lying on their stomachs, backs, sides, on couches, and hanging off the side of a train

-being surrounded by enormous fictional animals

and my personal favorite

-throwing handfuls of multicolored feathers into the air

FEATS OF STRENTH!! You'd think it was Festivus the way HGO Mozartians brought the muscle and endurance. They

-lifted other singers into the air

-spoke German recit while tied into a yogic bow pose

-covered a man with furniture while singing a trio

and my personal favorite

-carried on a well-deserved opening night celebration and returned for their second performance less than 36 hours later!

Superheros one and all. ;)

"Birdman", by the way, is a little tribute to Papageno, the character as well as the man playing him. PC is debuting this role, which is hard to believe because he inhabits it so beautifully. Papageno the character...well, in the rather convoluted story of MAGIC FLUTE, he's not supernatural at all, he's just a man with human needs and desires, and so he is the character we recognize and love. With a little magic help from music, he finds his true love and his purpose in life.

Which is another kind of amazing feat, after all.