A magical Magic Flute

The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
New Zealand Opera
With the Auckland Philharmonia
Aotea Centre
Until June 26

NZ Opera’s The Magic Flute takes us into a magical world created with magical music, a magical set and some magical singing. It is the freshest and most accessible version of the opera to have been produced in New Zealand and the all-New Zealand creative team haS shown that the company can produce operas of an international standard.

The story of The Magic Flute focuses on the triumph of reason and virtue over irrationality and the amoral. This concept was important in Freemasonry, which was popular during the Enlightenment of which Mozart was a card-carrying member. The opera's plot borrows symbolism from Masonic ritual, in which members progress through levels of self-understanding in a personal quest for knowledge.

The opera is set in ancient Egypt and its story centres on Tamino, a young prince who enters a quest to win the hand of the princess, Pamina. To marry Pamina, Tamino must undergo a series of initiation rites that test his dedication to reason.

Throughout the story, Tamino is caught between two powerful, symbolic figures. Sarastro, the high priest of Isis and Osiris, leads Tamino through his search for wisdom and symbolises the power of reason while The Queen of the Night tries to destroy Sarastro and lure Tamino and Pamina into her power; she represents irrationality and superstition.

But there is also the notion of not being bound by any moral concepts reflected in Tamino's companion, Papageno, who is only interested in the pleasure to be gaining the hand of Papagena.

The music and the singing range from the dramatic and serious, reflecting the moral principles behind the actions of Tamino and Sarastro to the lighter whimsical sequences involving Papageno and his Papagena.

The singers need to reflect these concepts in their singing and actions, to establish the contrast between the various types of characters that Mozart creates.

Director Sara Brodie has ensured the singers understood their roles, singing with the appropriate emotional, dramatic and comic style. She also kept the opera simple, the story line seemed much clearer and the simple set created an immediately accessible work. Much of the action stressed the comic nature of the work rather than the serious dramatic much to the delight of the audience. Other sequences such as the opening where Tamino confronts a serpent was cleverly made into more of a dream sequence and the young boys chorus was given a more contemporary feel by having three women sing the parts while manipulating child-sized mannequins.

John Verryt’s brilliant set, a combination of forest and temple is a wonderful creation. It's big columns are tree trunk, light boxes, rabbit holes and prisons like a magician’s prop. Elizabeth Whiting’s clean, severe  Greco-Egyptian costumes provide a stark contrast to the flashy costumes of the Queen of the Night and her ladies.

Tamino, sung by Randall Bill, displayed a fulsome fresh tenor voice with a heroic tinge to much of his singing, matched by the lyric voice of Emma Fraser as Pamina

The Queen of the Night was given a riveting performance by Ruth Jenkins-Robertsson and her big arias were full of chilling sounds and she varied her volume and emotional edge superbly.

The Queen's three ladies, Amelia Berry, Catrin Johnsson and Kristin Darragh, gave a delightful performance in their attempts to seduce the heroes with their intertwining voices, arms and legs.

The stand-out performance was by Samuel Dundas as Papageno. He was able to capture all; the comic nuances of the part and he showed himself to be a consummate actor as well.

Wade Kernot gave his Sarastro the right level of gravitas with a solid, commanding voice that occasionally lacked power in the lower registers.

Bonaventure Allen-Moetaua gave a great performance as the devilish Monostatos while Madison Nonoa gave a refreshing display as Papagena especially in her singing with Samuel Dundas of the Papa duet.

James Clayton and Derek Hill had multiple roles, which they carried off with fine singing and acting. Hill’s performance as the crippled priest added a nice touch to the production.

The opera chorus, now known as the Freemason New Zealand Opera Chorus, as it is supported by the Freemasons Foundation was in fine singing form, providing a well-balanced sound.

Conductor Wyn Davis guided the Auckland Philharmonia with unwavering attention to detail, ensuring that music at all time matched the tone of the singing and action.

The company should be applauded for having subtitles displayed even though the libretto is sung in English.

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