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Its whiplash Mozart time at the Metropolitan Opera.
Obligatory scowls have been replaced with obligatory grins.
A few land gracefully; most bang against each other and expire.
At least McBurney wants the audience to have a good time he demands it, in fact.
So far, so funny.
Are you not entertained?
At its best, the staging has a Watch me!
swagger, a principled refusal to ply the audience with whiz-bang illusion.
Two unscripted cast members flank the proscenium.
His live sketches and rhythmic erasures get projected onto a scrim in real time.
These techniques have power.
A corps of handlers manipulates paper birds.
The orchestra, instead of being hidden in the pit, is lifted into sight.
Well, its semi-principled.
Despite his assorted subversions, McBurney sometimes winds up substituting one creaky narrative with another.
Costume designer Nicky Gillibrand seems to have bought his costumes on sale at T.J. Maxx.
Fortunately, the music-making has color to spare.
The conductor Nathalie Stutzmann coordinates the performances million moving parts with relaxed confidence and an ear for detail.
These days, shes battling directors in two Mozart operas at the same time.
The Magic Fluteis at the Metropolitan Opera through June 10.
