Die Zauberflöte

We had the chance to go to another opera called the Die Zauberflöte or Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Dusseldorf Opera House with Tante Gisela and our cousin Sophia.

The Dusseldorf Opera House is traditional in design compared to the more modern Essen Opera House where we did a behind the scenes tour.

The story of The Magic Flute is great because it is kid friendly.

The Magic Flute is about a prince named Tamino (Ovidu Purcel) who sees a picture of Pamina, (Anett Fritsch) and instantly falls in love with her.  Pamina, the Queen of the Night’s (Christina Poulitsi) daughter, was captured by the evil Sorastro (Sami Luttinen) so the Queen demands Tamino to go and rescue Pamina.

Tamino goes on a quest with his bird catcher friend, Papageno (Richard Sveda) to rescue Pamina.  They use magic bells and a magic flute to protect them on their journey.  Furthermore, while on the quest with Tamino, Papageno, wants to find a Papagena (Luiza Fatoyl) wife.

Will Tamino rescue Pamina?….

Will Papagano find a Papagena?……

What was interesting was the opera was staged like a silent film from the 1920’s.  Instead of speaking their lines, the actors had big German subtitles projected on a screen behind them.  The director and the set design team also made it really scary when they used animation to make the  Queen of the Night a giant spider.  At some parts it was funny.  For example when Papageno was crying, the animation showed tears coming from his eyes.  Pamina lent him her handkerchief, but when he gave it back, it was all wet and she had to wring it out.  On the screen, the audience could see the animated water dripping from the handkerchief.

The music was also beautiful.  There was a live orchestra who kept in time together and did a great job.  All of the songs were amazing and here are links to two of my favorites:

–‘Pa-pa-ge-na!’ – ‘Pa-pa-ge-no!’

–The Queen of the Night Aria

The opera was set in the 1920’s so all of the characters wore costumes from that time.  Most of the cast wore all black and white except for Papageno and his wife Papagena who wore bright yellow.  I think Papageno and Papagena’s costumes were yellow to show that they were the funny characters.

I also really enjoyed the way they used the makeup for the effects.  All of the characters had white makeup painted on their faces.  The Queen of the Night had a tall cone shaped head covered in white makeup.  She also had bright pink eye shadow that stood out and enhanced the giant spider animation.

The actors in this opera were all very professional and kept in character.  What I really enjoyed were  the funny characters like Papageno and Papagena who made me laugh.

I think everyone should go to see this performance because it’s different than the traditional Magic Flute opera.  It is also interesting because it looks like a silent film from the 1920’s.  The animation really played a big role in the opera because it enhanced the funny and the scary parts.

I also had a special connection to this opera because my uncle Soto played the role of Tamino many times throughout his career.  The picture below is when he played the role of Tamino in Athens, Greece

My aunt Antigone has also played the role of one of the three ladies who are assistants for the Queen of the Night and are mentioned in the story.

I really enjoyed this performance and would definitely recommend it to all ages unless you really don’t like spiders!

When we returned home, we sat around the table and talked about our favourite parts which was really special.