I was blown away by this last night. It was stunning in so many ways.
The ENO production pushed the humour to the front and the comic foil; Papageno hammed it up to the crowd. There is a lot of character and location movement in The Magic Flute and the set was cleverly orchestrated. A crescent stage, backdropped with spotlights, all trapdoors and shadowplay.
Pamina spent most of the night on the floor. A push from Monostatos or a shove from Tamino and down she went. Audience sympathy swayed between aggrieved heroine and get up, love. Her most powerful singing came from a horizontal position. Her wicked mother literally towered over her and sang two of all opera’s most difficult arias with glass shattering passion.
The second act is where the Mason imagery takes over. The symbolism is drummed home. Pyramids with eyes and effigies lying everywhere. When more than two people came on stage it required choreography to avoid cats, dogs and funny handshake memorabilia. Mozart was a recent convert to the secret society and his cast sing it from the rafters.
In the end sub-plots were reconciled, evil disappeared through the trapdoor and true love never sparkled brighter. An amazing production.