''The Magic Flute'' (''Impempe Yomlingo)'' is a musical theatre work adapted from the

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

opera of the same title by

Mark Dornford-May Mark Anthony Dornford-May (born 29 September 1955) is a British theatre and film director, now based in South Africa. Personal life Mark Dornford-May was born near Eastoft in Yorkshire. His mother was a school teacher, and his father the Drama ...

, with words and music by Mandisi Dyantyis, Mbali Kgosidintsi, Pauline Malefane and Nolufefe Mtshabe. Mozart's score is transposed for an orchestra of

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

s, drums and township percussion. The musical, set in contemporary South Africa, re-interprets the story from a South African perspective, telling of Prince Tamino's quest to rescue Pamina (both of them are

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

-speaking teenagers), daughter of the Queen of the Night, from the Priest of the Sun. The musical premiered in 2007 at the Baxter Theatre in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa, before beginning a tour to the United Kingdom. The production opened at the

Young Vic Theatre The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 201 ...

in London over the festive season, 2007. The cast performed ''The Magic Flute'' and an adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' '' A Christmas Carol'' on alternate days for a nine-week run. The production won the Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Off-West End Production. Its success led to a transfer to the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...

for a further run until 19 April, 2008. The musical won the

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in ...

that year."SA musical wins prestigious Laurence Olivier Award"
''South Africa: The Good News'', 13 March 2008 Following its West End theatre season, the production toured to the Dublin Theatre Festival, the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Canterbury Festival. In November 2008, it returned to South Africa for a season at the Market Theatre in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

. It then played in Tokyo and elsewhere, concluding its tour at the Singapore Arts Festival in June 2009. The production, directed by Dornford-May and choreographed by Lungelo Ngamlana, starred Dornford-May's wife, Pauline Malefane in the role of the Queen of the Night. It featured performers from the township of

Khayelitsha Khayelitsha () is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to be the largest

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

of South Africa."SA musical wins prestigious Laurence Olivier Award"
''South Africa: The Good News'', 13 March 2008 ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' said that the work "gets right to the heart of the opera's humanist message"."''Magic Flute'' finds its African edge"
''The Irish Times'', 20 September 2008

References

External links

''The Magic Flute'' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magic Flute (musical), The Laurence Olivier Award-winning musicals West End musicals Works based on The Magic Flute South African musicals Musicals set in South Africa Musicals set in the 21st century 2007 musicals