Der Freischütz (The Marksman) is Opera Atelier‘s first into the Romantic period in the company’s history. This new production premiered Saturday night at the decadent Elgin Theatre and it did not disappoint the full house.

Opening scene of Der Freischütz. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Der Freischütz is the story of Max (Krešimir Špicer), a young man who must pass a test of marksmanship in order to win Agathe’s (Meghan Lindsay) hand and claim his position in the community. Having difficulties with his shooting skills, Max enters into a Faust-like deal for seven magic bullets: six will unerringly hit their intended mark, and the final one is at the command of the devil, Samiel (Curtis Sullivan).

At the forefront of this ‘deal’ is bad guy, Kaspar (Vasil Garvaliev), who knows how desperate Max is to obtain Agathe’s hand. Garvaliev and Špicer both do a tremendous job in evoking sadness, fear, and desperation through their voices. Not far behind is Carla Huhtanen who plays Aanchen, Agathe’s cousin, and almost steals the show when paired up with Lindsay. Both sopranos harmonize beautifully but in terms of acting and winning the audience’s affection, Huhtanen is the darling of the two. Gustav Andreassen, the Wise Hermit, who shows up at the end to right all things making us wish he’d appeared earlier in the opera. And not one to disappoint is Sullivan as the malevolent Samiel.

Vasil Garvaliev as Kaspar. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Costume designer Martha Mann, with input from artistic director Marshall Pynkoski, decided to set this opera during the 19th century – the time of its composition. This allowed Mann to create designs that would compliment the themes of the opera instead of the ornate wardrobes of the early 1600’s — the original setting of the opera. This is not the only change made to the opera. Although sung in German, the dialogue was in English, a deviation from the ‘norm’ that actually works well. Other welcomed changes are the use of multimedia aspects in the set design by Gerard Gauci. He decided to incorporate paintings by Henri Fuseli to add to the macabre and eerie feeling in Wolf’s Glen, the place where Samiel appears.

One minor setback, in my opinion, is the hurried pace in its second half. Nonetheless, with its emotional intensity, integration of German folk legend, and gestural dramatic nature, Der Freischütz is a production definitely worth seeing. All the changes work to its advantage. It is beautiful to look at; the singing is outstanding, and definitely a great, bold choice by Opera Atelier‘s artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg.

Samiel (Curtis Sullivan) and Max (Kresimir Spicer) in the Wolf’s Glen by Bruce Zinger.