Hull New Theatre 27th and 29th March 2025
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
4****
With music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and words by Emanuel Schikaneder (English version by Jeremy Sams) Opera North performed The Magic Flute to a very appreciative audience at Hull New Theatre last night. This is one of the Opera Norths performances in Hull the other being The Flying Dutchman on 28th March.
This was a superbly performed Opera, from the sets and costumes (designed by Colin Richmond) the lighting and the video (designed by Chris Davey and Douglas O’Connell respectively) which set the scene beautifully, to the fabulous cast who told the story faultlessly. The orchestra, conducted by Emilia Hoving, brought the production to life.
The Magic Flute is a fairy tale that they described in the programme as a “Singspiel (a sung play)” which includes singing and spoken dialogue. It tells the story of Tamino (Trystan Llŷr Griffiths) who is lost in a foreign land and is soon attacked by an enormous monster. He is rescued by three ladies (Charlie Drummond, Katie Sharpe, Hazel Croft). They kill the monster and show Tamino a picture of Pamina (Soraya Mafi) who is the beautiful daughter of the Queen of the Night (Nazan Fikret) and he falls in love with her and sets off on a quest to find his one true love helped, rather be reluctantly by bird catcher Papageno (Emyr Wyn Jones). What then follows is a story of love and betrayal and we find out if Tamino does succeed in his quest.
This is an excellent cast, stand out performances for me were Emyr Wyn Jones (Papageno) who was funny and his voice was stunning. Trystan Llŷr Griffiths (Tamino) and Soraya Mafi (Pamina) who were wonderful as the star-crossed lovers and Nazan Fikret (The Queen of the Night) who played the part brilliantly.
This is an excellent Opera to watch whether it is your first or you are an opera lover of many years.
Opera North never fail to impress and long may they continue to visit Hull and bring their fantastic and varied programme of Operas.