The Magic Flute is widely considered to be a very accessible work, especially for novice opera-goers, and Welsh National Opera’s currently touring production serves to confirm its audience-friendly reputation.

Although the story is complex, it is also lighthearted and funny, includes thought-provoking moral elements, and in the hands of WNO is a visually impactful experience boasting strong colours and neon lights. Add to that this production’s interpretation of the work as a quest for female equality, and it’s easy to see why people unsure about opera might fall for its many and varied unconventional charms.

In a land of mystery, magic and adventure, Prince Tamino, armed with a magic flute and a set of magical bells for protection, sets off on a quest to find Pamina - who, in this new adaptation, is his childhood friend. The prince is accompanied by the bird catcher, Papageno, who is followed everywhere by flying birds. This is brilliantly portrayed in the production via the use of puppets.

Pamina is no ordinary woman. Her doting parents, before becoming estranged, ruled respectively over Night-time (a place for liberation of thought and imagination) and Day-time (a place of logic, reason and rational thought), but they could not find a middle ground on which to raise their daughter. After living with her mother - the Queen of the Night - in the Night-time world, Pamina chooses to visit her father, the Priest of the Sun, at the Sun Palace and learn about the Day-time world.  

When Tamino finds Pamina, the two young friends face difficult trials and tribulations together before eventually being crowned Prince of Twilight and Princess of Dawn. They bring to their new roles what they have learned from the fragmented and discordant worlds of Pamina’s parents. Their new world embraces harmony and difference of opinion - sending the important message that there is more than one way of looking at things...

Vocals in this adaptation are, as you would expect from WNO, absolutely first rate. The Queen of the Night aria at the beginning of the second act is quite simply breathtaking. Beautiful harmonies and duets abound throughout. 

Alongside the exceptional singing, the set design is impressive, the costumes stunning, the choreography clever.

The Magic Flute was Mozart’s last and possibly greatest work. Showcasing the triumph of reason and virtue over irrationality and evil, it has enthralled and engaged audiences for more than 230 years. In the hands of the always brilliant WNO, it has been given a vibrant, modern twist that bodes well for the health of its reputation as an accessible, adaptable and remarkably relevant work.

If you’re inexperienced in terms of the genre, check out this show. It could well be the production that turns you from opera novice into opera enthusiast.

Four stars

Reviewed by Sue Hull at Birmingham Hippodrome, Wednesday 3 May. The Magic Flute shows at Birmingham Hippodrome until Friday 5 May.