The Magic Flute

Published Monday 18 February 2008 at 13:35 by Jon Holliday

The WNO spring season features three popular revivals, opening with Dominic Cooke’s 2005 imaginative staging of Mozart’s final masterpiece The Magic Flute, with Eugene Onegin and Falstaff to follow.

As revived by Benjamin Davis, this production retains all its remarkable meld of mysterious fantasy, with the pleasing mix of the comic and heroic combining seamlessly. The rituals are impressive without being over-solemn, the pantomimic forays a joy, the visual imagery striking, with some jokey set pieces earning deserved applause.

The box setting of Julian Crouch with its multitude of doors against a skyscape, are worthy of a French farce, unifying and practical, while Magritte-inspired costumes by Kevin Pollard are as unexpected as they are delightfully eccentric.

The musical kaleidoscope ranging from the enchanting lyricism of the lovers, through the dramatic trials of the Brotherhood, to the pop tunes of the birdcatcher, is sensitively conducted by Gareth Jones.

As Pamina, Rebecca Evans is expressively elegant and so touching, matched by Russell Thomas as a convincingly resolute Tamino. The Papageno of Neal Davies is an off-beat exotic creation justly rewarded by his winning the dollybird Papagena of Claire Hampton. Satisfying portrayals too from Laure Meloy the evil Queen, David Soar with his authoritative Sarastro and David Stout as the Speaker, plus love-hungry trio of Edwardian maids in the nocturnal Royal household, Camilla Roberts, Anne-Marie Gibbons and Joanne Thomas.

Though sung and acted in an English version by Jeremy Sams, there are subtitles in English as well (and in Welsh for performances in Wales) which makes the dazzling presentation more than usually accessible.