Dane Lam, Artistic Director of State Opera South Australia, cannot hide his excitement about the upcoming Adelaide season of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. 

This landmark production by acclaimed film and opera director Shuang Zou is a collaboration between State Opera South Australia; the Beijing Music Festival, where it will be staged in 2026; and Opera Hong Kong, where it had its world premiere earlier this year.

A scene from the Hong Kong production of The Magic Flute. Photo courtesy of Opera Hong Kong

Lam will conduct it in Adelaide as he did in Hong Kong and says the audience loved it. “The whole run was completely sold out, and for a lot of people attending, it was their first opera. They didn’t have any preconceived notions about what The Magic Flute should be, but there were little bits of scaffolding from their own culture and daily experiences that they could grab onto to get into the story.”

As written in 1791 by Mozart and librettist Schikaneder, the original Singspiel opened with Prince Tamino fleeing from a monstrous serpent. He was rescued by three mysterious ladies who told him that Pamina, daughter of the Queen of the Night, had been taken by the “evil” Sarastro. Determined to rescue her and accompanied by the half-man, half-bird Papageno, Tamino embarked on a quest symbolising the triumph of reason over ignorance, superstition and darkness.

Describing the new production, Lam says it now begins with Pamina and Tamino, who travel to work on the subway, and are what you would call ‘salary people’ in Japan.   

“They have a lovers’ tiff during the overture, and then the subway becomes a portal between the mundane and the extraordinary.” 

Armed with his titular flute and guided by Papageno, here a fast-food delivery man, Tamino navigates a world of wicked queens, mystical trials and ancient wisdom in an attempt to fulfill his destiny and be reunited with his beloved Pamina.

The characters of Pamina and Sarastro in the Hong Kong production of The Magic Flute. Photo courtesy of Opera Hong Kong

Designed by Australia’s own Dan Potra, who worked on Opera Australia’s The Magic Flute in 2006, this brand-new version is ostensibly set in the Hong Kong underground (MTR), although as Lam explains, it could just as easily be Singapore’s MRT or even Sydney’s train system. “They’re all fairly similar,” he says, adding that audiences should expect a visually thrilling joyride, with the serpent as the train and the MTR connecting different scenes, and worlds.

“Some of the things in the original libretto are preposterous,” says Lam. “And this whole idea of worlds within worlds and the subterranean realm reminds me of a Haruki Murakami novel.”

“Once you accept that you start off in the ordinary world and then enter a parallel universe, you can begin to make sense of all that talk of Enlightenment in the context of our own modern age and the region in which we live.” 

Potra has worked with video designer Marco Devetak to create animated sequences that show the train pulling in and out of the station. “It’s full of surprises and ‘revolving-door’ moments,” says Lam. “There’s a huge Socialist Realist poster featuring three flight attendants. Once this travelling between worlds takes place, they come to life and step out of the poster to become the Three Ladies in service of the Queen of the Night.” 

“Someone like the Speaker of the Temple initially looks like a Hong Kong beggar sitting on the floor before he is suddenly transformed,” continues Lam. “To me, it speaks of this transfiguration between what is ordinary and something totally out of this world.”

The cast in Adelaide includes Nicholas Jones as Tamino, Sofia Troncoso as Pamina, David Greco as Papageno, Danielle Bavli as the Queen of the Night, Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Sarastro, Helena Dix as the First Lady and Jessica Dean as Papagena.

Describing the lineup as “luxury casting”, Lam says, “The production epitomises what we can do in Australia. It’s a production that will give a lot of Australians their first taste of Mozart’s masterpiece.”

State Opera South Australia presents The Magic Flute at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, 28 August – 6 September.