When I was in high school, a good friend snabbed a role in the Seattle Opera’s “Die Zauberflöte,” or The Magic Flute. I never got to see it, but remember reading all these reviews about how it was the best children’s opera, how beautifully done, how simple. Tonight, at The Met, I got a chance to see for myself.
It’s a story told in Singspiel (“song-play”) format, where dialogue and stage activity bridges the musical acts. The tale that takes place in a land between the sun and the moon first premiered at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, 1791. Mozart had his premature passing only three months after the debut, making the Flue his last musical work for the stage.
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