“Neighbors” are both participants in the show and the onstage audience. But it doesn’t feel shortchanged: on the contrary, it looks like money (and a lot of thought) was lavishly spent to create the perfect illusion of a ragtag kids’ show, complete with a cardboard-box monster (by Blair Thomas), ancient priests draped in sheets and chenille bedspreads, and family pooches in a walk-on as fearsome lions. The flashiest parts of the story-a man-eating dragon, an awe-inspiring temple, trials by fire and water-are definitely tamed by it. This conceit, by Australian director Neil Armfield, could be an excuse for skimping on production costs.
As the story unfolds, the house rotates to show us its patio, front stoop, or side-yard cellar entrance. And the entire house is there: an idyllic, life-size Cape Cod, planted center stage on Lyric’s giant new toy-er, turntable. The opera is performed outside a “typical” suburban house, in someplace like Oak Park, probably around 1960. I was won over almost as soon as the curtain went up on what proved to be a clever and joyful reimagining of Mozart’s much-loved 225-year-old singspiel (opera with spoken dialogue) as a backyard production by a bunch of American kids for an audience of neighbors. So I was skeptical about the new production the company opened Saturday night, ready to be grouchy about change for change’s sake.Īs it turned out, no need. I loved Lyric Opera’s 30-year-old production of The Magic Flute, with its 18th-century costumes and storybook sets.
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