I haven’t posted anything on my blog for a long time, mostly because we’ve returned to New Zealand and taken up our old lives and routines. It seemed that there was nothing that we hadn’t experienced before and hence nothing remarkable to blog about. But that changed over the weekend when we enjoyed a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which was part of the 2019 Auckland arts festival. This was the production from the Komische Oper Berlin co-directed by Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade (British theatre group 1927) with animation by Paul Barritt. In addition to Mozart’s famous music ably played by the Auckland Philharmonia, the performance was remarkable for some fine singing and amazing animation instead of sets. Some of the animation was reminiscent of silent movies – warnings to Tamino and Papageno during their trial of silence, for example, were projected in huge words complete with exclamation points. The animation was inventive and amusing, resulting in laughter from the audience at times. It suited the fantastical plot of this opera though I found it distracting at times and I closed my eyes to concentrate on the singing. I also didn’t take to the Queen of the Night as a giant spider! But overall, it was a wonderful experience and the the applause at the final curtain was long and loud.