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The Magic Flute
Millennium Centre
Cardiff/Touring
4 stars
THE WELSH National Opera are in the middle of a purple patch at the moment and this production of The Magic Flute is another gem in the crown of stunning operas that artistic David Pountney is currently presiding over.
Mozart’s operatic saga — a quest to rescue a damsel in distress underpinned with currents of freemasonry and magic — has a somewhat inauspicious opening here with what looks suspiciously like a giant plastic prawn attacking the heroic Tamino (Allan Clayton).
He’s rescued by the Queen of the Night’s three maids, who lasciviously ogle and paw him while he recovers from his fishy ordeal.
The princely Tamino is set on a quest to rescue Pamina (Sophia Bevan) — daughter of the Queen of the Night (Samantha Hay) — who has been abducted by the masonic leader Sarastro (Scott Wilde).
Sarastro has some of the most sexist lines in opera and he delivers them with all the pomposity that you would expect from a masonic lodge leader.
But it is May who steals the show with her stunning aria as she berates and persuades her recalcitrant daughter into murdering Sarastro.
In this opera, all the strong characters are women but they are faced with a misogynistic fear of their supposed wild, lustful and unbridled characteristics.
But laced through what could be an unedifying stew of men wittering on about rational thought and reason is a large dollop of humour which director Dominic Cooke lays on with a trowel.
South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo (pictured with Claire Hampton, above) is a lovely Papageno, wanting no more from life then wine, good food and love.
He finds the latter in the shape of Claire Hampton’s Papagena and the pair have an instant family, with baby after baby being added to their ever-growing brood on stage. When the couple cannot cradle any more babies the stage is flooded with crawling dolls, to the delight of the audience.
Another hugely comic moment is when Papageno uses his magic bells to fend off the henchmen of the Queen of the Night — who’s turned out to be a villainess — and they break off from their murderous assault and pirouette around ballet-style.
With first-rate singing and acting, a superb orchestra and laughs aplenty, what’s not to like in this celebration of a wonderful Mozart opera?
Tours until April 10. details: wno.org.uk
