Review of Opera North production The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute - Egor Zhuravskii as Tamino and Claire Lees as Pamina. Picture: Tristram KentonThe Magic Flute - Egor Zhuravskii as Tamino and Claire Lees as Pamina. Picture: Tristram Kenton
The Magic Flute - Egor Zhuravskii as Tamino and Claire Lees as Pamina. Picture: Tristram Kenton
Stage: The Magic Flute Leeds Grand Theatre Liz Coggins 4/5

James Brining’s production has added an extra helping of magic to Opera North’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

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Mozart’s only opera written specifically to appeal to a general audience was his last opera before he died and was written in the Singspiels genre – literally a play with music – where musical numbers are interspersed with spoken dialogue not with recitative as in most operas.

Often regarded as a fairy tale with its magic flute and bells, animals and a romantic couple, the opera also has symbols of Freemasonry and as such promotes the ideals of virtue, love and wisdom.

The Magic Flute - Anna Dennis as the Queen of the Night with Egor Zhuravskii as Tamino. Picture: Tristram KentonThe Magic Flute - Anna Dennis as the Queen of the Night with Egor Zhuravskii as Tamino. Picture: Tristram Kenton
The Magic Flute - Anna Dennis as the Queen of the Night with Egor Zhuravskii as Tamino. Picture: Tristram Kenton

This revival production of Brining’s 2019 version is lively and beautifully staged and laced with pathos, emotion, drama and some dark moments.

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The Magic Flute is a technical masterpiece with Colin Richman’s set and costume design, Chris Davey’s mood lighting and the ultimate ethereal video projection of fire and water designed by Douglas O’Connell.

Brining’s mute opening during the overture, sees a young girl playing a record of the opera with characters, who later become key elements in the unfolding tale, appearing in the doorway of her bedroom, consolidating his idea of seeing the story through the eyes of a child.

The tale is about a prince being lost in a foreign land being chased by an enormous monster. Rescued by three mysterious ladies they give him a picture of the Queens of Night’s daughter, with whom he instantly falls in love. She is prisoner of the evil Sarastro and of course the prince immediately goes to rescue her.

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The opera’s score is full of extremes of pitch with an amazing Queen of the Night (Anna Dennis) taking her famous staccato aria to dizzy heights and the evil Sarastro (Masimelelo Mbali) descending very low, both with great ease.

Egor Zhuravskii (Tamino) is a dashing pure tone tenor and Claire Lees a believable damsel in distress. But the winning performance came from Emyr Wyn Jones as Papageno. A great comedic character actor, baritone but above all so much fun.

Accomplished conductor Christoph Koncz and The Orchestra of Opera North excelled with their interpretation of the rich and lively score .

At Leeds Grand, then touring. Visit operanorth.co.uk for performance details.

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