When the Fairy Tale Turns Into a Mystery Cult

After viewing Diana Damrau as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in London, I decided to make that my next venture. I queued up the Dec 30, 2006 Met production, and made an accidental discovery.

It's in English!

This is the Julie Taymor production of The Magic Flute, heavily abridged, and filled with gorgeous visuals, puppetry, fantastical creatures, dancers, flying figures, enormous masks, vivid costumes, and sets that seem to rearrange themselves like a kaleidoscope.

The Queen of the Night was sung by Erika Miklósa, the Hungarian coloratura soprano.

Miklósa's costume makes her appear surrounded by six enormous wing-like extensions manipulated by puppeteers. I could not find an exact count, but her costume probably involved four to six people.

The English text adaptation was made by American poet J. D. McClatchy. The Met created this version specifically to make the opera accessible to families and newcomers.

My screen captures can't really do it justice, and I got lost in the story and forgot to take more.

I will say, for a beginner, the second half of the opera's plot is a little hard to follow.

The Three Ladies who rescue Tamino at the opening of The Magic Flute, transformed by Julie Taymor into strange, elegant birdlike creatures.

I got that the Queen of the Night was the real villain, but after that, my grasp of the exact plot unraveled a bit. I didn't read the libretto this time, or any summaries.

The first half of the story feels like a brightly colored fairy tale. There are giant creatures, birds, magic objects, a kidnapped princess, an evil-looking sorcerer, a heroic prince.

Tamino encounters Papageno, the comic bird-catcher.

Then suddenly you seem to be watching an initiation ceremony conducted by a mysterious philosophical brotherhood.

The Met itself describes the work as beginning as a magical rescue story and transforming into a fable about enlightenment and inner development.

Works Cited:

Damrau, Diana. "2003 Milestones." Diana Damrau, 2003, https://diana-damrau.com/en/2003/01/01/2003/.

"Die Zauberflöte (Abridged Version)." Televised Opera and Musical Comedy Database, Indiana University Libraries, 2006, https://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/iulibraries/s/operatv/item/22948.

"Die Zauberflöte, K. 620 (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)." IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library, https://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Zauberfl%C3%B6te%2C_K.620_(Mozart%2C_Wolfgang_Amadeus).

"The Magic Flute." Metropolitan Opera, https://www.metopera.org/discover/education/educator-guides/the-magic-flute/.

"The Magic Flute—Holiday Presentation." Metropolitan Opera, https://www.metopera.org/season/2026-27-season/the-magic-flute/.

"Magic Flute Guide." Metropolitan Opera, https://www.metopera.org/fluteguide.

"Mozart: Die Zauberflöte DVD (The Royal Opera)." Royal Ballet and Opera, https://shop.rbo.org.uk/products/mozart-zauberflote-dvd-the-royal-opera.

"Synopsis: The Magic Flute." Metropolitan Opera, https://www.metopera.org/discover/synopses/the-magic-flute/.