Jochen Schmeckenbecher, a musical-theater giant of a Papageno, was in the
middle of his second-act lament this afternoon about the inconveniences of
being on a reluctant hero's journey when he suddenly switched to English:

"And the Raiders lost 16-3," he said, adding a bit more German dialogue
(allowing audience gasps and snickers to settle down) and then launching
into his aria, executing it flawlessly.  Oakland's loss to Baltimore, as
reported instantly (was he listening to radio?), was perhaps the only sour
note of this final performance of both the San Francisco Opera's "Magic
Flute" run, and of the 2000-'01 season.  (But not of the Lotfi Mansouri
era, as I mistakenly reported last night:  the summer Verdi Festival will
still take place on his watch, before Pamela Rosenberg becomes general
manager.)

The antithesis of opening-night jitters is the last-performance relief.
In the case of the matinee "Flute" in the War Memorial, relief turned into
magic.  Unlike the ragged, unsatisfactory performances when this fourth
outing of the 22-year-old David Hockney production opened in the fall (with
a different cast), today's show was like butter.

Schmeckenbecher was a vocal and comic delight - without overdoing it - and
doing honor to his teacher, Kurt Moll.  Another very special German singer,
Franz-Josef Selig (from Koln), sang a perfect Sarastro:  every note in
place, a beautiful voice used to serve the music, not to show off.  Raymond
Very has always done well in San Francisco, but his Tamino today was
several notches over past performances, and a straightforward, "manly"
portrayal (in voice and acting) of the role.

Praises are to be showered on the ladies as well:  Mary Mills's Pamina,
Suzanne Ramo's Papagena, and - in a rare show of total command of the
impossible vocal requirements of the role - Mary Dunleavy's flawless Queen
of the Night.

And there were more, many more, on the honor roll: Ian Robertson's chorus,
in one of the best performances of the season.  Twyla Robinson, Elizabeth
Bishop and Catherine as the outstanding Three Ladies.  Even the Three Boys
deserve special mention:  Michael Bannett, Brian Jolly, and Ryan Irwin sang
very well, showing the results of the training in the San Francisco Boys
Chorus (another Robertson enterprise).

William Lacey's conducting ranged from adequate to good - it could not
measure up to Donald Runnicles' performances last month in the orchestral
passages, but represented an actual improvement over what happened before
(rather mysteriously) when it came to supporting the singers.  (From my
report of Runnicles' opening night:  "(He) maintained a flawless sound with
the orchestra and the chorus, but aria after aria, regardless of the
singer, sounded slack and unfocussed.") There was nothing like that today
- it all went well from beginning to end.

Perhaps we should have last performances before opening nights.

Janos Gereben/SF, CA
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