The Magic Flute

I'm running behind, as always at this time of year - lots of things to do. Not much time to document everything.

I was delighted when The Magic Flute was announced for the Met HD programme, as I had never seen it before, and I had heard a lot about the magical production by Julie Taymor, who directed The Lion King, a show that's been running nightly since 1997 on Broadway! I've never seen The Lion King (the original 1994 Disney animated movie, nor the musical).

And I loved The Magic Flute, despite reports of sexism by a friend who saw the Covent Garden production. Yes, Mozart is not exactly a feminist. But hey, it was sung in German, so I could ignore the subtitles if I found them too offensive (a major element of the plot has got to do with the hero having to ignore his beloved's pleas, as "women are the cause of a lot of trouble for men", or words to that effect). Beautiful singing. Beautiful production. And the Queen of the Night is such a great baddie.

Unfortunately, the Odeon in Stillorgan cut the ending before the opera was actually finished. A lot of angry punters. Apparently, the transmission ran late and they cut it off automatically because they had another movie in that theatre. Annoying, yes. But not the end of the world.

The clips below are from the English language version.