Goines On: The magic “ha! ha! ha!”

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While Goines craned his neck back to squeeze artificial tears into his eyes, he became aware that, with each breath, he was emitting a barely audible “ah” sound. The repetition of “ahs” put him in mind of Philip Glass’s glorious music in the final act of Akhnaten, which he and Mrs. Goines had gotten to listen to on the car radio four days earlier, as they drove home from another foray of theater-broadcast opera in Chapel Hill. Saturday’s opera hadn’t been live, but a recording of the Met’s premier live broadcast from 2006, of Julie Taymor’s abridgment of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
    Goines loved Mozart, the composer’s memorable melodies, which had sparked such jealousy in Antonio Salieri (at least as portrayed by F. Murray Abraham in Miloš Forman’s 1984 film, Amadeus). But maybe Mozart let himself down in operas, or in The Magic Flute anyway? Or in Taymor’s abridgment? For whatever reason, despite the colorful costumes, the puppets, the suspended figures, the acrobatics of Nathan Gunn

as the bird-catcher Papageno, Goines hadn’t much liked the music. His persistent image from the viewing was the sick look on singer Matthew Polenzani’s face as he (as Tamino) “gets the girl” (Pamina, played by Ying Huang) at the end. Why the appearance of such “non-chemistry” between the two characters, the two singers?

    But driving home, listening to Acts II and III of the live radio broadcast of this season’s final Met performance of Akhnaten, all thought of the “magic flute” was set aside as Goines gloried in Glass’s throbbing orchestra and everyone on stage’s singing “ha! ha! ha!” for minute after minute after minute. It could wet your eyes.

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