The misogyny can’t be avoided in a libretto so fixated on women’s submission and sinful pride, but it can at least be undercut; and while James Brining’s production of The Magic Flute for Opera North trades as much in fantastical imagery as in feminism, it still does a pretty creditable job of filleting the opera’s toxic masculinity.
Not all of its shots hit their mark. The Wizard of Oz-style framing device isn’t quite sustained to the end, and there’s surely something more provocative to be done with the downfall of an otherwise nuanced Queen of the Night. But it’s gratifying to see Sarastro’s oppressive regime treated with contempt instead of reverence, and the opera’s eclectic sense of fun given so much leeway.
