The Magic Flute (Venue Cymru, Llandudno)

The Welsh National Opera's production of Mozart's The Magic Flute is a visual feast, packed with bold colours and Lewis Carroll-style absurdities, such as a giant killer lobster and a menagerie of amusing zoo animals.

The Magic Flute tells the story of Tamino, who at the top of the production is rescued from being killed by a murderous lobster  (don't ask) by three ladies, all of whom fall desperately in lust with him. This opening routine gets things off to a great start, with the aforementioned crustacean snapping its claws at Tamino through several doors until it is defeated. Tamino finds himself in a nine-doored room in the sky and after meeting a birdcatcher called Papageno, is challenged by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from the evil clutches of Sarastro.

And that's all you really need to know, the plot doesn't get much deeper than that, as we follow Tamino and Papageno's quest to Sorastro's domain, and discover along the way that the Queen of the Night hasn't been as honest with them as she might.

Visually, the production is very much inspired by the work of Rene Magritte, which makes for some arresting imagery: the nine-doored room floats in a sky straight out of The Infinite Recognition, while the trenchcoated, bowler hatted men of Sorastro's domain are obvious riffs on The Son of Man, or even Magritte himself, despite the clothes being bright orange rather than the traditional dark grey.

This gives the production a stylistic grounding recognisable to the audience and makes the proceedings more fun and accessible. The majority of this fun is in Act 1, with the start of Tamino's quest and his encounter with the delightful wild animals which he charms with his magic flute. Whoever's in those costumes are masters of physical comedy, as the audience is treated to the absurd sight of a lion reading a newspaper, a feathered bird rooting through her handbag, and a stag filing his nails. Of all the surreal things in this production, the wild animals are by far the oddest and most entertaining.

It's a pity they don't turn up again in Act 2, as the story stumbles a little and becomes preoccupied with various characters proclaiming their love for another, fearing the loss of their love for another, or craving the return of another. It's all very histrionic, but then this is opera - if nothing else, we are to expect overwrought characters and situations.

Set designer Julian Crouch has also found an ingenious way of fitting the WNO Chorus onto the stage without cluttering up the limited set - they secrete themselves below the floor, popping their bowler hatted heads up when required, and waving their orange umbrellas in the air when casting a vote. The silliness of seeing several heads singing in unison at ground level is amusing but not too ridiculous to remove you from the moment. It's just enough to make you chuckle, but not too silly to detract from the power of the performance.

And the performances are top-notch all round, from Allan Clayton's determined Tamino to Sophie Bevan's quivering Pamina, from Daniel Grice's clownish Papageno to Scott Wilde's imposing Sarastro. Also of note was the highly amusing turn from Claire Hampton as Papageno's beau Papagena (convenient name, that). Star of the show for me was Samantha Hay as the scheming Queen of the Night, a role which demands an awful lot in its staccato passages and death-defying arias. Hay brought the house down with every performance and showed how powerful and eloquent opera really can be.

While The Magic Flute is all very surreal and amusing, and at times downright silly and laugh-out-loud funny, it's narrative structure is flawed. Act 1 is packed with memorable moments which Act 2 simply cannot boast, and although it's right that the emotional power of the story comes to the fore as Tamino is united with Pamina, there's no real set-piece to speak of to mark out one lovelorn outburst from the next. The choral finale is impressive, but almost tokenistic in its presentation.

It's a visually arresting and colourful show, with some stunning vocal talent on display and plenty of fun to be had along the way. It's just a shame that Schikaneder's libretto isn't quite up to the job of Mozart's masterful music.

The stats
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder (English translation by Jeremy Sams)
Conductor: Lothar Koenigs
Director: Dominic Cooke (revival director Caroline Chaney)
Cast: Allan Clayton (Tamino), Camilla Roberts (First Lady), Maire Flavin (Second Lady), Emma Carrington (Third Lady), Daniel Grice (Papageno), Samantha Hay (Queen of the Night), Howard Kirk (Monostatos), Sophie Bevan (Pamina), Jennifer Clark (First Boy), Sophie Levi (Second Boy), Clare Ghigo (Third Boy), Simon Crosby Buttle (A Priest), Scott Wilde (Sarastro), Ashley Holland (Speaker), Philip Lloyd Holtam (First Armed Man), Aidan Smith (Second Armed Man), Claire Hampton (Papagena)
Performed at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, March 13, 2015.

Links
The Magic Flute on WNO website (retrieved Mar 13 2015)
The Magic Flute on Venue Cymru website (retrieved Mar 13 2015)
Classic FM guide to The Magic Flute (retrieved Mar 13 2015)
WNO trailer for The Magic Flute (retrieved Mar 13 2015)
WNO guide to The Magic Flute (retrieved Mar 13 2015)