Mozart: Die Zauberflöte ****
The Royal Opera, 14th September 2017
What do you seek from The Magic Flute? Truth? Enlightenment? Birdcatcher Papageno confesses he’s not really looking for wisdom. Sleep, food, drink – and possibly a wife – is all he’s after. I suspect the majority of the audience is with him. In Thomas Guthrie’s revival of Sir David McVicar’s sober 2003 production of Mozart’s Singspiel, it was the pantomime elements of the show which registered strongly, while the Masonic claptrap – “without a man, a woman cannot fulfil her destiny” – resonated a good deal less, greeted instead with nervous chuckles.
Siobhan Stagg (Pamina) and Sabine Devieilhe (The Queen of the Night)
© ROH | Tristram Kenton
Read the full review on Bachtrack.