PERFORMING ARTS

Rabbit in the Moon

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One reason techno music has faded is that its live performances tend to be nothing more than guys bobbing their heads and punching their fists in the air while spinning discs and twisting knobs. But this lack of visual interest doesn't explain why Rabbit in the Moon drew a modest crowd to the 9:30 club Friday night (for a show that actually didn't start until after 1 a.m. Saturday). Unlike many acts with a similarly pulsating sound, the Florida duo is deeply committed to showmanship and audience participation.

There were periods during the show when all the action was restricted to six video screens beaming psychedelic sci-fi images. But that was mostly because ponytailed frontman Bunny (Steve Eachon) had to execute a half-dozen costume changes. He entered in a spacesuit, doffing his helmet before spraying the fans with vapor. Subsequent outfits included a striped, multi-limbed costume and a sort of straw man get-up made of blue and yellow glow sticks. The glow sticks, of course, were soon thrown into the audience, as were a giant ball and -- more than once -- Bunny himself. He was also supplemented by a fire-eating exotic dancer whose costume might have been designed for the Angkor Wat Playboy Club.

Throughout this spectacle, the man behind the curtain -- Confucius, a.k.a. David Christopher -- produced the standard thumps and swooshes. Although he varied the attack with a stripped-down, melodically disabled version of David Bowie's "Let's Dance," more typical were songs like the encore, "Star Shine (Come Alive)." It clattered vigorously, but it wouldn't have made much of an impression if Bunny hadn't been up front in a suit covered with small lights that changed color in sync with the video.

-- Mark Jenkins

'The Magic Flute'

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The Wolf Trap Opera Company has an abiding affection for "The Magic Flute," Mozart's last opera and one of his most popular. The company has put it on six times over the years, and little wonder -- with its enchanted animals, kidnapped princess, padlocked lips and so on, it's a perfect fairy tale for a summer evening. Wolf Trap made things even more magical over the weekend by pricing lawn seats at only $8; the view may not have been perfect, but the music upstaged the acting anyway. And to lie on your back, staring up into the stars while the Queen of the Night unleashes her fury? A bargain at any price.

Director Stanley M. Garner rightly tried to downplay the more arcane aspects of the opera (Mozart filled it with references to Freemasonry, most of them lost on contemporary audiences) and focus on the fantastical. But it was still a rather measured, low-key production, not nearly as playful as it could have been, despite a fine comic turn by baritone Liam Bonner -- who overcame his pink tights and lime-green man-bag to turn in a funny, free-spirited performance as the bird-catcher Papageno.

Conductor Robert Wood kept the music moving at an energetic clip, though, and soprano Rebekah Camm brought both brainpower and an unfailingly gorgeous voice to the role of Pamina, lighting up the stage every time she appeared. Things dimmed a bit, though, whenever tenor Beau Gibson appeared as the noble Tamino; while he sang well enough, he ambled through his various challenges with all the dramatic punch of a quart of milk. But South African soprano Bronwen Forbay showed what a brilliant Queen of the Night she can be, nailing the nerve-racking aria "Der Hoelle Rache" with delectable ferocity -- and proving that Mozart's strange magic lives on.

-- Stephen Brookes

Colbie Caillat

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MySpace sensation Colbie Caillat tells interviewers she's glad she didn't make a bid for stardom as a teenager. At 22, she's had time to polish her craft and train her voice. There's something to that. At a nearly full Birchmere Saturday evening, there were no hints that the performer might be capable of an Ashlee Simpson-style meltdown. But while Caillat has honed her skills, her insights have lagged. The material on her debut album, "Coco," is pleasant but shallow.

Backed by a five-piece band, Caillat performed all but one of "Coco's" 12 songs. She filled out the one-hour set with a cover of Lauryn Hill's "Tell Him" and an original, "Droplets," that she sang in duet with co-writer (and opening act) Jason Reeves. The tunes generally traced their recorded versions, which meld folkie-rock and pop-soul and whose gently jazzy beats reveal Caillat's affinity for hip-hop. The arrangements of a few songs amplified the singer's modestly eclectic tendencies: "Tailor Made" became a little more country, "Tied Down" got a more pronounced reggae lilt, and "Battle" was given an arena-rock overture.

None of these additions upset the fundamentals of Caillat's style: delivery that glides assuredly from breathy to full-voiced, a kittens-and-rainbows worldview and a taste for clotted rhymes (like the "toes-nose-goes-know" scheme of her breakthrough number, "Bubbly"). Barely out of her teens, Caillat is already a canny pro. But when she sings that her "Feelings Show," she reveals nothing at all.

-- Mark Jenkins