Southern Opera's Magic Flute takes off, into outer space

Director Linda Kitchen and her design team have created a Magic Flute for the 21st century. Robin Rawstorne designed the sets and costumes and Rob Peters the lighting and was also production manager.

The overture was accompanied not only by a number of latecomers but also by some surprising action. The Speaker, Wade Kernot displayed to the audience the 7-fold disc of the Sun. In the synopsis, "the disc had once belonged to The Queen of the Night but her husband left it to Sarastro in his will. Without it she has no power. Sarastro has also seemingly stolen Pamina, the Queen's daughter. The Queen will use Pamina's abduction to once more gain control of the mysterious 7-fold Disc of the Sun."

A man sitting in the front row of the stalls, Tamino, is ushered onto the stage with a torch and faints at the sight of a large dragon and three baby monsters. The Three Ladies appear perhaps in Bavarian clothing, Papageno enters the stage in a flying machine and the Queen is in bright red velvet. The outside of the temple could be the outside of a space ship with three sloping doors which open to allow Sarastro his platform.

In Act Two we are definitely in a spaceship with three sloping compartments illuminated with different colours. The only action that takes place in the third of these is the monitoring by close circuit TV of the captives and to observe the silence, or absence of silence, in Papageno's case, using three computer screens. Visible on the screens are the CCTV of the cells above, the names of the various trials and also very cleverly "Red Alert" when the Queen appears with her ladies, this time all in black.

The Star Wars theme is more obvious as we get into the drama, with Tamino as Luke Skywalker and Pamina, Princess Leia. I presume The Speaker could be Han Solo and Sarastro is definitely Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Queen is Darth Vader. The themes of Freemasonry which Mozart and his fellow writer, Emanuel Schikaneder, intended were set alongside this futuristic connection and they co-existed happily.

We were treated to a very interesting production and musically it was also inspiring. Tom Woods conducted the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and kept the volume low. I would have preferred more sound from the trombones which are usually a highlight of the score.

In the major roles, James Benjamin Rodgers was a splendid Tamino. Throughout he sang with great passion and clear diction. His portrait aria had that almost heroic tone that I like to hear in Tamino. Grant Dickson, Sarastro, continues to astonish with his rich bass tone, getting comfortably down to low E. His two arias seemed effortless. Rebecca Ryan was a delightful and gorgeous Pamina. Her aria," I feel grief and sadness" was beautifully expressive as was all her singing. The trio for these three was one of the highlights.

Jared Holt, Papageno, started a bit tentatively in the bird catcher song but improved greatly after his flying machine touched down. He made the most of the comedy and played well to the audience. He played his pan pipes, and his glockenspiel cleverly appeared when needed. Anna Argyle, Papagena, combined well with Jared Holt for a lovely "Pa-pa-pa" duet.

The greatest applause of the evening was for Emma Pearson from Australia who gave a truly dramatic coloratura rendition of "The wrath of hell" aria in Act Two, with clear top Fs. This was thrilling singing.

Bonaventure Allan-Moetaua was a vigorous athletic Monostatos suitably cast being Pacific Islander. Wade Kernot, the Speaker, also the Second Armed Man, showed excellent diction which is essential for opera performed in English without surtitles. The three ladies, Janette Walker, Rachel Doig and Rachelle Pike looked great and sang and combined well. Stu Myles and Mark Tavendale as the two priests, and Ravil Atlas as the first armed man also performed creditably.

I would have preferred better diction with more emphasis on the consonants from the three boys, actually two boys and a girl. However they were delightful in their canary yellow playsuits. The large chorus was generally very fine but in one scene, one of the tenors was too intrusive, disturbing the even sound.

Overall, the excellent work of the direction and design team with the support of a fine cast, chorus and orchestra made this one of the very best productions of opera yet seen in Christchurch.