The Magic Flute on Tour

This last – and quirkiest – of Mozart’s operas has always been the ideal vehicle for introducing opera to the young and the young at heart. This production – adapted, translated into English and directed by playwright Michael Gow – certainly makes the most of the comic aspects of librettist Schikaneder’s story and characters and the correspondingly magical fun that Mozart had with the music. And though the adaptation – and some of the local idioms in the translation – may not appeal to opera ‘purists’, Christopher Lawrence’s words in the program notes suggest that this is as it should be: “The Magic Flute’s great achievement is to have positioned itself as part of the vernacular furniture from day one”.

Gow and designer Robert Kemp’s decision to set the production in a ancient tomb in Egypt in the 1930s allows them to make the most of “The Egyptian Mysteries” with which the opera is suffused. Walls of ochre coloured bricks with bands of hieroglyphic texts from The Book of the Dead surround the stage. As the overture comes to a close, a bedraggled mummy emerges from a hidden doorway and chases Tamino across the smoke-hazed stage until he faints in terror.

Thus the scene is set for a production that is true to the story and the music, but in translation makes the humour and some of the characters a little more contemporary. Tamino (Sam Roberts-Smith) is an archeological explorer, lost in the maze and of the ancient tomb. Papageno (Christopher Hillier) is a very ‘ocker’ Australian bird catcher, Papagena (Anna Dowsley) a birdlike embodiment of his dreams of the perfect (politically incorrect) wife. The three ladies (Hannah Dahlenburg, Emma Castelli and Anna Yun) who find the languishing Tamino, are nurses and a maid. The Queen of the night (Regina Daniel) is a Queen of that time, complete with silver gown and white fur jacket, lamenting her kidnapped daughter Pamina (Stacey Alleaume). Sarastro (Steven Gallop) is a learned archeologist and Monostatos (Benjamin Rasheed) a wicked genie-like character who appears almost in a puff of smoke.

All approach this production with the energy and lightness of spirit that is at its heart – but this does not detract in any way from their approach to the music. Their voices soar, every note clear and precise, every harmony finding the special blend of voices and orchestra that always thrills.

The chamber orchestra is ideal for a touring production – violin, viola, cello, a double bass, flute, two oboes and two French horns – provide the perfect, atmospheric accompaniment … and the magical, repeating themes of the flute, the pan pipes and the glockenspiel will entrance audiences as they have for 220 years.

In this tour, Opera Australia will enable 500 children across Australia to participate as a children’s chorus in The Magic Flute. Each community will be offered the opportunity for up to 24 children aged between nine and fourteen to feature as the Chorus. Local choir leaders have attended intensive workshops, been provided with all the materials required to train the children beforehand and given support and assistance as needed. If the smiling faces and delightful voices of the boys from Parramatta in last night’s performance are any indication, many children across the country are going to benefit from this OA initiative – as will four promising young singers who will receive an OA Student Scholarship.

Carol Wimmer

Images: Anna Dowsley as Papagena and Christopher Hillier as Papageno; Hannah Dahlenburg as Queen of the Night and Andrew Moran as Papageno, Hannah Dahlenburg as 1st Lady, Nicholas Jones as Tamino, Emma Castelli as 2nd Lady and Anna Yun as 3rd Lady. Photographer: Albert Comper