Find out what is being said about this revival of Simon McBurney’s production of The Magic Flute, playing in the West End until the 30th March.
Broadway World: *** ” Norman Reinhardt brings a husky timbre to Tamino opposite Sarah Tynan’s full bodied Pamina. John Relyea’s Sarastro is anchored with a particularly lustrous bass and Rainelle Krause is effortlessly smooth but mesmerising powerful as the Queen of the Night. I just wish they had more breathing room to fill the space; Erina Yashima’s high wattage conducting doesn’t so much savour the score but scoffs it down.”
London Unattached: “This is living interactive, vital opera at its finest. Anyone labouring under the misconception that opera is a stuffy old art form ought to see it to be proved wrong. An unmitigated masterpiece from start to finish.”
The Guardian: **** “McBurney’s Queen of the Night (Rainelle Krause) is a superannuated harridan, tottering about with a stick when not confined to a wheelchair. With her diamantine coloratura, Krause nails her Act II aria while trundling around the stage like a demented dalek. The three ladies (Carrie-Ann Williams, Amy Holyland and Stephanie Wake-Edwards) are tight, ferocious and funny, the three spirits – two boys and a girl – sing like a dream and Peter Hoare’s pervy Monostatos deserves every boo he got at the curtain call. Opera is seldom as funny.”
The Independent: ***** “English National Opera joins forces with theatre company Complicite for a mesmerising spin on an old classic.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.eno.org/whats-on/the-magic-flute/