The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote)

Published Wednesday 30 January 2008 at 13:15 by David Gutman

In David McVicar’s thrice revived 2003 Royal Opera production, an opera both solemn and frivolous makes an oddly dour impression from the recesses of the theatre.

Seen from the stalls, however, the imagination and elegance of the designs snap into focus and the serious-minded examination of Enlightenment tropes is leavened by elements of upmarket panto and puppetry.

Only the contemporary costuming of Papagena strikes a false note. She seems to have been shopping in Primark while the rest of the cast don period-influenced garb. Act I’s crescent moon and Act II’s rising sun provide especially striking images amid the prevailing gloom.

Several of the protagonists have been here before. Not least Simon Keenlyside who presents his intensely physical, loveable and above all sensitively sung Papageno to an adoring audience. His baritone remains in peak condition quite apart from the other qualities he brings to the role. Erika Miklosa’s Queen of the Night is a less volatile theatrical presence, but she combines vibrant East European timbre with crystalline neatness and control. Less perfectly pitched is Christoph Strehl’s Tamino in a house debut that against expectations fails to inspire - the characterisation is patrician, the voice strained up top. First night nerves? Stephen Milling is physically imposing and predictably Wagnerian as Sarastro, John Graham-Hall enliveningly seedy as a pale-faced, diabolical Monostatos. Genia Kuhmeier’s girlish Pamina, is pure and strong if not exactly sublime.

There is plenty of life left in a lavish production which will no doubt run and run even without its star performance.