I recently went to my first Opera – if you exclude Phantom Of the Opera we once saw on Broadway. It was a birthday present from my other half (we often try something new – last year I had her stock car racing!). On this occasion and in all honesty I was a little dubious about it – after all its all Opera is a bit stuffy isn’t it? And what is a techno geek like me doing anywhere near Opera anyway? I agreed to go along in good spirits as I do like a bit of classical music.

Let me tell you now – my preconceptions of Opera could not have been more wrong.

The Opera was “The Magic Flute” put on by English Touring Opera, directed by Liam Steel, and presented at the Grand Theatre Wolverhampton – and it was fantastic.

The basic story of The Magic Flute, as best as I can explain it, involves a young Prince, Tamino, who faints after being chased by a wicked serpent. Three maidens working for the Queen chase away the serpent but a bird catcher, Papageno, takes the credit for rescuing the Prince. The bird catcher is quickly found out and punished. The Prince and the bird catcher, together with three boys, are sent on a quest to find and rescue the daughter of the Queen, Pamina, who the Prince has fallen in love with after seeing her image. The daughter of the Queen is being held captive by the evil doer, Sarastro, and is being constantly harangued by one of his henchmen Monostatos. The Prince and the bird catcher are convinced to join Sarastro and are given a series of tasks to complete to prove their worthiness, and so the story drives towards a dramatic climax.

After reading the show guide, which gave an outline of the story, I was expecting the first act to include a serpent and a lake but as the scene opened we were presented with a surprising brothel scene as the Queen seems to have transformed into the Queen of the Night. The format has clearly been updated and piqued our interest as the music of Mozart started. The story is told over two acts and ran (including the interval) just under 3 hours.

There was a single set, something reminiscent of the exterior of the Tardis with its blue wooden finishes. This comparison was further proven as all manner of stage equipment and actors seemingly appeared from almost every orifice the set could offer. The set worked surprisingly well as it was flexible enough to be able to cope with every scene it was presented with. The glass like projection screen at the back of the set proved especially useful as video footage accompanied various scenes adding further drama and an air of mystery to the performance.

Supporting the set were two large, two line, digital matrix displays hanging either side of the stage so we could follow along with the dialogue – this was really helpful too as we could get an idea of what was going on whilst enjoying the music and performances of the small band of actors. It felt as if the actors were having  a good time too and this really came across in their performances – the audience took to clapping after every scene. We also had a few scares and jumps too as the story developed its mystery with door slams, lightning bolts, ghostly apparitions and other surprises. Fortunately there were a good number of laughs too led largely by Papageno, the three boys, one of the priests and the dancing parrots.

There were a number of last minute changes to the cast line-up, due to illness, but this did not detract from the performance for us and the rest of the cast seemingly coped with it well. I was to understand that for one of the main actors it was their first performance filling in and I couldn’t tell – everything seemed to gel just right.

It would be hard to single out the performance of a particular performer as the performances of Tamino, Papageno, Pamina, the Queen of the Night, Sarastro, Monostatos, the three ladies, the three boys, and everyone else were particularly well played out. Papageno got the audience laughs with his well timed comedy, the character of Tamino developed as the story unfolded from a humble Prince at the start to the hero of the story by the end, and Pamina handled herself exceptionally well. Sarastro held a restrained authoritative performance which really helped bring his character to life – in even the smallest of movements. The Queen of the Night – you wouldn’t want to meet her on a dark night – or perhaps you might

As for the music, conducted by Paul McGrath, it was exceptional in offering some of the best Mozart has to offer and some very strong performances to support the Arias. The music really helped lift the performances and add to the mood of the piece. I used to play trombone in the school orchestra many many years ago so at least have have some vague idea of what is involved in preparing for a performance piece. However, the music of The Magic Flute is something to be remembered – if a CD had been available after the performance I would have snapped one up.

I only just learned there was an option for a pre-show talk from James Hurley, Staff Director, prior to the main performance. I would have enjoyed attending this – its a bit like those special features you get on a DVD.

We had a really enjoyable evening especially as we managed to get some great seats towards the front of the stage. At the end of the show we were clapping so much our hands hurt and have promised to go to another show soon. ETO and “The Magic Flute” have opened up the world of Opera to us and made it really accessible and entertaining – they should be commended for it.

You can learn more about the ETO, who are celebrating 30 years, at http://www.englishtouringopera.org.uk/flute09.php

You can learn more about the Grand Theatre Wolverhampton at http://www.grandtheatre.info/

Images used courtesy of ETO