There have been all kinds of settings of Mozart’s legendary opera The Magic Flute, and this magical production – jointly developed by State Opera South Australia, Opera Hong Kong and the Beijing Music Festival – is one of the most original and inventive.

The action begins in a busy metro station bustling with commuters. A busker dressed as Mozart plays the electric guitar. The principal character, Tamino (Nicholas Jones), is a traveller who suddenly and inexplicably finds himself attacked by a serpent in the form of a train, thus leaving the real world and entering a world of fantasy or dreams through a vortex.

Nicholas Jones and Danielle Bavli in State Opera South Australia’s The Magic Flute. Photo © Andrew Beveridge

Above the station platform is a giant billboard advertising air travel, with three hostesses dressed in red who suddenly come to life. The Three Ladies (Helena Dix, Catriona Barr and Fiona McArdle) bring an airline food trolley onto the stage to attend to the fallen Tamino.

When the fantastical character of the birdcatcher Papageno (David Greco) appears, he is dressed in a...