Opera Australia’s 2012 Brisbane Season begins tonight with The Magic Flute.

Dancing animals and giant puppets are set to feature in Opera Australia’s The Magic Flute, opening tonight at the Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC).

This truly is an opera for all ages with Director Julie Taymor, best known for directing the award-winning Broadway musical The Lion King. Taymor has staged another imaginative and colourful production with Mozart’s The Magic Flute, combining the vernacular English translation, with her trademark skills in visual art, puppetry, mime and dance, to create a shortened, family friendly show designed to appeal to a family audience.

This production is a celebration of Australian talent including Taryn Fiebig, Stephen Smith, Kanen Breen and Andrew Jones, and twenty-two year-old Kiandra Howarth, who is one of the youngest Principal Artists currently working with Opera Australia. Serbian born Milica Ilic also makes her debut with Australia’s national opera company.

The Magic Flute was Mozart’s final work and it is not quite an opera, not quite a play with music, and not quite a fairy tale. It lends itself well to different interpretations because of its ambiguous and playful storyline and many different subtexts.

Lost in a mythical land between the sun and the moon, the noble Prince Tamino embarks on a dangerous quest. His destination is the temple of the evil wizard Sarastro and his mission, to rescue the beautiful Pamina, daughter of the mysterious Queen of the Night. On a perilous journey a hero needs more than courage and so Tamino is given a magic flute, one that can bewitch even the darkest of hearts. Accompanying him through this fantastical world is Papageno, a flighty bird-catcher who is more interested in girls than danger. When the two adventurers reach the temple they discover that Sarastro and his Brotherhood of the Sun are not what they seem. Tamino and Papageno are made to undertake a series of strange trials that will test their resolve. If they fail, Tamino and Pamina will never see each other again. Tamino’s faith is strong but Papageno’s foolish ways seem destined to undo him. Will the brave lovers fall at the final hurdle and watch their dreams o love disappear? Or will love, with the help of a little magic, conquer all?

Opera Australia’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini says, “The Magic Flute is one show you must take the whole family to see this year. It’s a brilliant piece of theatre, and a brilliant example of what opera can be in the 21st century.”

Mozart’s The Magic Flute, will be showing at Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) from 26 May to 8 June, 2012.

More Information: The Magic Flute – QPAC