Welsh National Opera's new production of The Magic Flute manages to fall short of the most crucial factor: magic. There may be an assumption that Mozart's work is so indestructible it will stand up no matter what, but the folly of this is proven here - where failings are less to do with directorial concept than the rather charmless performance over which conductor Jean-Yves Ossonce presided.
Director Dominic Cooke and designer Julian Crouch seem to have been at pains to create a context in which librettist Emanuel Schikaneder's surreal mix of pantomime and allegorical ritual could be viable. So theirs is a Magritte-inspired vision with clouds in blue skies and bowler hats, where the masonic brotherhood of Sarastro becomes a cult tailored in bright orange, more Baghwan than Buddhist, with their leader a cut above in orange-trimmed white.
The set is defined by three virtual walls, each with three doors, the back periodically lifted to give a corridor of doors with a much extended perspective. There are as many trap-doors, with the orange bowlers and brollies of Sarastro's followers popping up in meetings. It is all pursued with a relentlessness that felt heavy-handed, and even the comic elements with the animals - the serpent becomes a giant lobster - seemed laboured.
The Queen of the Night's entourage were more wittily conceived: the three ladies primly pinafored Edwardian maids, only voluminous red petticoats hinting at a saucier side; while their junior counterparts, the three boys, made quite an entrance on a balloon-borne vehicle, penny farthings in triplicate with a tortoise head and tail.
Katarzyna Dondalska's queen looked splendidly regal, but was simply not up to the role. Teddy Tahu Rhodes was an engaging enough Papageno, resonant if somewhat inflexible of voice, while Peter Wedd's Tamino was more confident in the dialogue than in his arias. Musically and vocally, Rebecca Evans was in a class of her own as Pamina. In the lower register, her sound is increasingly luscious and creamy, and the anguish reflected in the exquisitely floated high notes was deeply touching. This was musical enlightenment; if only the rest of the evening had matched up.
· At the WMC on May 20, 22 and 24 (box office: 08700 40 2000). Then touring.
