Opera Australia Brings Some Enchanted Evenings In 2012

Troubled Spider-Man director Julie Taymor will bring her family-friendly production of The Magic Flute to Australia next year.

Opera Australia officially announced their 2012 season today and there is plenty of good news for opera lovers and musical fans alike.

In January last year I ran into director Bartlett Sher (The Light in the Piazza) at Lincoln Center and he told me that South Pacific would come to Australia starring Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Emil de Becque. A commercial tour never appeared but now the 2009 Tony winning revival of South Pacific is finally on its way. Opera Australia will present a four week season at the Sydney Opera House and the show will then tour Australia with further dates to be announced.

South Pacific has just embarked on a UK tour headlined by Tony winner Paulo Szot (pictured below with Glee's Matthew Morrison as Cable) and EastEnders heroine Samantha Janus. The last time South Pacific was presented in Australia was back in the unthinkable days when US stars were imported to play leads. Paige O’Hara, the voice of Belle in Disney’s animated movie Beauty and the Beast, played Nellie Forbush. The actress to play Nellie in Australia has not been announced but the role is sure to be hotly contested.

The Lion King director Julie Taymor may not be welcome on Broadway any more after blowing out the budget, and then some, for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark but her delightful version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (pictured above at the Met) will be more than welcome in Australia, especially at family friendly prices. Sung in English, the production is shortened and streamlined from the original and features an array of puppets, masks and special effects that Taymor demonstrated so winningly in The Lion King. The Magic Flute will play Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Previously announced spectacle La Traviata will play on Sydney Harbour from 24 March starring Emma Matthews as doomed courtesan Violetta Valery. Hugely popular soprano Matthews will also be seen in Melbourne and Sydney in a new production of one of Dame Joan Sutherland’s signature roles Lucia di Lammermoor.

Sydney’s summer season will see a Mozart festival, with The Magic Flute joined by Jim Sharman’s Cosi fan Tutte and the delayed arrival of Benedict Andrew’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro.

Graeme Murphy’s classic staging of Turandot will open the Melbourne Autumn season, followed by The Magic Flute. Elijah Moshinsky’s glamorous production of The Barber of Seville, featuring a spectacular two storey hotel with fountains, will return to Melbourne and we will see the new production of The Merry Widow, featuring stars of the current Sydney staging Amelia Farrugia and David Hobson.

South Pacific will play eight performances a week at the Opera House from 11 August. Sydney will have return visits from The Pearlfishers, Madama Butterfly and Graeme Murphy’s Aida as well as seeing the new productions Salome and Lucia di Lammermoor.

In spring, Melbourne will see a new production of Salome directed by Gale Edwards, who achieved great success with La Boheme this year. Cheryl Barker will make a welcome Melbourne appearance as Salome. Floating candles and falling petals will mark the return of Moffatt Oxenbould’s gorgeous wood and water staging of Madama Butterfly.

Full Opera Australia Melbourne and Sydney seasons 2012:

Sydney Summer:

The Magic Flute – Mozart

Turandot - Puccini

Cosi fan Tutte – Mozart

The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart

La Traviata - Verdi

Melbourne Autumn:

Turandot – Puccini

The Magic Flute – Mozart

The Barber of Seville – Rossini

The Merry Widow – Lehar

Sydney Winter:

Die tote Stadt - Korngold

The Pearlfishers – Bizet

Aida – Verdi

South Pacific – Rodgers

Madama Butterfly – Puccini

Lucia di Lammermoor – Donizetti

Salome – Strauss

Melbourne Spring:

Salome – Strauss

Lucia di Lammermoor – Donizetti

Madama Butterfly – Puccini