Tiny wooden hands, massive emotions — opera's most bonkers fairy tale with strings attached.
The Queen of the Night has begged Prince Tamino to free her daughter Pamina from the clutches of the High Priest Sarastro, who has abducted her. Together with the bird-catcher Papageno, Tamino enters Sarastro's realm to seek her. When he finds her, the two fall in love, but they have to have to undergo ordeals before they can be together. At the end, Papageno is also rewarded with his Papagena.
Production
Marionette craftsmanship that puts your childhood toys to shame
Acting
Peter Ustinov narrating like he's slightly terrified of his own puppets
Direction
Wübbolt making wooden dolls more expressive than most Marvel performances
Director
Georg Wübbolt
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Salzburg Marionette Theatre, founded in 1913, is the oldest professional marionette company still performing Mozart's operas in their original puppet scale.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, arguably the greatest Lieder singer of the 20th century, recorded Papageno's spoken and sung parts separately — his voice coming from a bird-catcher puppet remains deeply surreal.
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