The Magic Flute

Barking mad, unless you're an eighteenth-Century Mason. But the music is lovely and the singing was truly captivating. Emma Pearson's two arias as Queen of the Night were stunning. The crowd in the opera house was simply stopped in its tracks by the second piece and we roared our appreciation until we didn't know what to do next. So we sat back and enjoyed the rest of the show with its neat little resolutions of boy meets girl stories and the more than slightly incredible idea (these days) of Masonic good triumphing over the female / night's evil. Me? I'm on the side of the lady who sings from the Moon.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Opera Australia web site.

Cristina Ricci (my friend rather than the movie actor) enjoyed the show, knocked out (like everyone else) by the Queen of the Night. So that's good ... my purchase of a pair of subscription series seats has not been rendered entirely meaningless by last year's difficulties. Michael Parkinson was in the audience. There was a time, in the 1970s, when his chat show really was essential viewing. He seemed happy enough as he dropped into his limo seat at the end of the night.
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