Review: The Magic Flute

The Komische Oper Berlin production takes an innovative approach to Mozart’s 227-year-old opera.

Performers enter the stage via multiple rotating doors on a large blank wall, onto which are projected animations by the production company 1927. The visual look of The Magic Flute is playful, and both the costuming and digital projections hark back to silent films and Weimar-era Germany. The projections execute several visual gags which breathe fresh life into a classic opera.

There are many superb performances in the production. Soprano Aleksandra Olczyk plays the Queen of the Night, in a costume which makes her look like the lovechild of Divine and a black widow spider. She delivers the notoriously difficult coloratura aria Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen to ecstatic applause. Another star of the show is baritone Tom Erik Lie, who plays the comic relief character Papageno with vocal prowess and a flair for slapstick.

The lushness of The Magic Flute, combined with outstanding performances by singers and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, make this an unmissable show.