Janácek - The Cunning Little Vixen / Nicholas Hytner · Sir Charles Mackerras · Thomas Allen · Eva Jenis · Tháâtre du Chatelet
There is no other opera quite likeThe Cunning Little Vixen,  which was inspired by a comic strip and presents episodes in the life of a  female fox, Sharp-Ears, from her childhood through captivity, escape, maturity,  childbearing, old age, and violent death, making way for a new generation. There  is a fine balance of cute and funny elements and hard-edged realism in the  story, which combines human and animal characters, with several singers doubling  animal and human roles. Under a Walt Disneyish surface, the opera reflects  deeply on the continuity of life, its beauty and conflicts. The music is bright,  energetic, and endowed with an often ethereal beauty. Sir Charles Mackerras,  generally recognized as the ultimate Janácek conductor of our time, gives  his usual first-class performance, aided by a well-selected cast and important  contributions by director Nicholas Hytner and designer Bob Crowley.Sharp-Ears is not only cuddly and anthropomorphic, attuned to nature, capable of  love, and even maternal, she is also clever, mischievous, and utterly  unscrupulous, willing to massacre a whole flock of chickens when the opportunity  arrives. In short, one of opera's great, ambiguous female characters and one of  the most difficult to portray. Eva Jenis does a marvelous job, as do Hana  Mutillo as her foxy lover and Thomas Allen in the leading human role. Some of  the music's best moments are wordless, as might be expected in an opera with  more animals than humans in its cast. Much of the production's attraction  depends on the dancers, costumed as a dog, a frog, a mosquito, chickens,  dragonflies, etc. Being danced by humans, these varied species are all of  roughly the same size, but clever costuming makes their identities generally  clear. Particularly impressive is a mosquito who has a red-tipped hypodermic  needle for a nose.--Joe McLellan