Kathryn Lewek as Queen of the Night deserves her own section in this review. Lewek’s performance in this production is beyond anything I’ve witnessed her do thus far. Her vocal performance was truly excellent. Her high notes soared into the Met’s main hall and I saw jaws drop among the audience, some even turning to their seat partners to make sure they had heard her too. Honestly, this was Lewek’s best performance that I have experienced and I wonder if it is because of how this Queen is portrayed: a frail, aging, vengeful, deteriorating form with only her own passionate bitterness and spiteful vengeance to fuel her. The amount of desperation that this Queen radiates in her desire for revenge leaves nothing on the table. She has nothing to lose, and I believe this is what pulled the ground out from under Lewek herself, giving her the space to do her best. In Julie Taymour’s “The Magic Flute,” Lewek is seen on a pedestal, fit with elaborate costuming and visual effects to magnify her power. In McBurney’s production she is the exact opposite, and it makes me pause to think more about these differences. The physicality of her in a wheelchair is something that blows my mind. Her diaphragm was only given half the usual space to provide what is necessary to sing a note loud enough to make it into the Met’s main hall. For me, Lewek is a legend and if one has the opportunity to see her perform this role in either productions, please take it!

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